1-2-3 The Devils' After Me: Pilot (Sis AU)
by Lea23S17
Summary: Natalie Winchester was living as close to a Hunting-free life that she could manage. But with born psychic abilities, the ability to see non corporal ghosts, she has a hard time staying out of peoples lives and sending spirits to eternity, her way. After some family drama, and a successful ghost-in-the-light mission she gets a visit from her brother Dean. Dads been gone a while.
1. Chapter 1

Supernatural

1-2-3 The Devil's After Me.

Pilot Part 1

 _ **Author's note: Sister Winchester AU.**_

 _ **This AU has plagued me for quite sometime. I was a Barista for 2 years and had to have something to occupy my mind while I cleaned the dining area-that seated 46. (So lots of time to think every night.)**_

 _ **IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL NOTE: THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS (1-5) USED TO BE ON BIG PART, IF YOU HAVE ALREADY READ THIS WHEN IT WAS 1 CHAPTER- YOU CAN SKIP TO CHAPTER 5. THERE HAVE BEEN SOME THINGS ADDED BACK STORY WISE, ALONG WITH SOME BITS TO GET RID OF INCONSISTENCIES.**_

 **You were given this life because you're strong enough to live it.**

 **-Ain Eineziz**

~~Lawrence Kansas

~*~November 2nd 1983~*~

There was a flicker of a street lamp at the blocks corner, making the man's shadow ripple like a pond. He had gone unseen by many, but he could see his target perfectly- that was al that mattered. The clock was done ticking, and it was time the deal came do. His yellow eyes caught the street light before it's erratic flightering stopped and emerged them into darkness. The light above the house driveway started to flicker above the mail box for a moment. The family name was written on the box in bright blue. As the light flickered the name seemed to blink like a neon sign. The Yellowed Eyed man knew he had the right place. There was no doubt.

The Winchesters.

A loud roar followed by two shrill screams sounded down the hallway. Two kids, about knee high flew past the nursery. The boy, naked as could be, still with suds in his hair, the girl, in nothing but a towel tied around her shoulders like a cape were both still soaking wet and was trying to delay bedtime to its latest possible hour.

Mary shook her head. At least her daughter was _somewhat_ decent. Dean had left his towel behind with his father. Speaking of which…. he came thundering down the hall trying to capture the wayward toddlers.

"FEE-FIY-FO-FUM!" He yelled, his shirt was soaked, and he even sported some suds in his hair as well. (Courtesy of Dean no doubt). He had a towel in his hand, and a goofy grin on his face.

"Need me to take over?" Mary asked, gently bouncing her youngest in her arms. He was almost asleep despite the noise.

"No," he responded in the 'giant's' voice. "Just show me where the children have gone. Yummy I love me some children…" he said with exaggerated eating sounds. "On-nom-nom."

Giggling came from the linen closet down the hall.

John shushed Mary loudly. "I think I hear them now…." He took big giant stomps till he was at the door. "Could they be…. here?!" he opened the door and the screaming started up the reflexes of a former marine, he wrapped his stark-naked son in his towel and through him over his shoulder, and grabbed his girl much the way. "Hahah, I got you!"The laughing and squealing got louder, "Back to my lair!" he said, stomping back to the bathroom.

"John," Mary called, sticking her head out the door.

He turned sharply, little feet fanned around him. "Yes, my one and only true love?" he asked smiling so wide his eyes crinkled.

"Ew, mushy gushy stuff." The young boy whispered.

"Let's try and have them settled _before_ midnight okay?" Mary laughed.

"Yes, ma'am." He said, setting the children down in front of the bathroom. "First one free of suds, and in their P'J's gets to pick the story tonight."

The children exchanged a look and jumped in the water that had gone cold long ago

.It still took another half hour to get the kids suds free, dry, and in their P'J's.

John found Mary leaning over their baby's crib, whispering to him."Sweet dreams little Sammy, sister and brother will come say goodnight soon."

"The little monsters are brushing their teeth now." John informed.

"Who gets the story tonight?" Mary asked, wrapping her arm around her husband's waist. Her forehead furrowed as she frowned, "You're absolutely soaked."

"I blame the sea-monkeys." He stole a quick kiss. "Natalie gets to pick. She beat Dean in the dressing-the-fastest- game."

Mary laughed. "All she had to do was slip on her nightdress."

"I know," John said, "I gotta teach that boy to pick his battles," he said, grabbing her hands, "Mind doing the reading while I go dry off?"

"Sure thing."

It was nearing close to 8:00, considerably long past bedtimes. But Halloween was a few nights ago, and both her little ones still had a fair amount of sugar in their systems from their after dinner candy splurge. Not to mention they both opted out of nap time. Mary walked into the nursery again, her 3 year old girl on one hip, wet pigtails soaking in her shoulder, and her rambunctious 4 year old, on her other hip, his damp hair wetting her other shoulder. "Ready to tell your baby brother goodnight?" She bent down so they could slide down her sides, their feet gently touching back to the ground.

They approached Sam's crib on tip toes like they did every night. He was staring up at them with big eyes. She lifted Dean first."Night Sam." He said, kissing his little forehead.

Mary sat him down and lifted Natalie."Night Sammy." She kissed his nose.

Mary gave a quick kiss too. She had told Dean and Natalie when Sam was born that babies needed lots of kisses to grow big and strong.

"Hello munchkins." John said from the doorway.

It was like they haven't seen their father in years. "Daddy!" they both exclaimed and ran into him.

"Oomph!" he laughed a little as the air was knocked out of him as two heavy heads hit his belly.

"You got them?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, I got 'em," he smiled, "Lets go kiddos, Goodnight Sam," he said before leaving. Mary smiled fondly as John led them to their room, letting her hand brush lovingly across her husband's shoulder as he left. Their babies were growing too fast. She leaned her head against the doorframe, just staring at her littlest baby.

Six months old already. Where had half the year gone? Her Sammy was going to be running along with his siblings before she knew it. "Goodnight Love," She flicked off the lights.

Sam laid in his cot, the mobile above his head spun around in a lazy circle, a tinkling sound made a soft lullaby, and his clock ticking away...until it all stopped. Plunging the room into silence. There was something _odd_ in his room.

Mary laid in bed, a small burst of noise from the baby monitor rousing her from sleep. She turned over,to stare at the blinking monitor. It was John's turn. "John." She whispered, trying to feel for him in bed, clicking her lamp on to see. His side was empty, his pillow cold, he hadn't been there in a while. Sighing, she slid across the bed, and padded her way to the hall, turning on the hall lights as she went. Sam made another noise. "I'm coming baby…" she whispered, shuffling her feet down the hall.

Looking in Sam's door, she saw John's silhouette against the moonlit window, maybe he'd been up watching the children. It wasn't the first time she found him like this. "John, is he hungry?" she whispered.

He simply half turned, and whispered, "Shhhhh."

Mary shrugged. "Okay," and headed back to bed. Then the hall light started to flicker. Curious, and worried, she silently walked to the wall lamp and tapped the glass shade. It continued to flicker madly until it calmed.

Then sounds from downstairs distracted her sleep muddled thoughts. She padded down the stairs, hearing the sound of voices from the television. Curious, she went down the stairs and peeked around the wall. Her heart nearly stopped in horror. If that was John snoring in his chair….

"Oh my God," she breathed, taking off up the stairs, "Sammy!" she called, "Sammy!" She burst into the nursery, to confront the man standing over her son's crib. He turned, and Mary gasped in horror, "No…"

"Oh yes, sweetheart." His eyes flashed to yellow, "You interrupted."

Mary screamed as loud as she could to alert John. Then everything faded to nothing.

John woke to a start at Mary's cry. "No!"

It was full of fear and sorrow. John thought the worst. it had come from the nursery. "Mary!" John called, nearly tripping as he went up the stairs.

"Daddy?" two sleepy voices called, as he past their room.

"Stay there!" he said sternly, "Mary!" he called, and she still hadn't answered him. John burst open the nursery door, it bounced back loudly against the wall, immediately, Sammy made his 'upset' gargle at being startled. John quickly walked to Sammy's cot; he smiled as he looked up at John's face. Finally able to breathe he smiled back, "Hey bud. You okay? Where's mommy?" he asked, Mary still cried out, he had to find her.

' _What the hell?'_ He wondered as something dripped onto the bedding, barely missing Sam's forehead. He went to touch it, to investigate, then three more drops splattered onto his hand. It was warm and sticky and the coppery smell hit his nose like smelling salts.

Blood?

He looked up and thought his heart fell to his feet. Mary was on the ceiling, mouth open in horror, and eyes blank. There was a big gaping wound across her belly, her blood soaking through her nightgown.

"Mary!" he called.

She didn't answer, didn't even scream as flames spontaneously burst around her and started to consume her body. "No!" John screamed again. How could this night turn so horrific so fast?

Regaining his wits, he scooped Sammy out of his cot; the poor thing was screaming and crying in horror. He didn't know that his mother was now gone. Sammy didn't know his life will now never be the same.

Once John entered the hall, he found Natalie and Dean holding onto each other, right where he left them. He placed Sam in Dean's arms.

"Get your brother and sister outside, don't look back, go Dean go!" He gave a gentle push, Dean nodded and quickly they both took off down the stairs, making his sister go in front. He went back to the nursery to see if there was any hope in saving Mary at all. The stink of burning flesh filled the room. He stared up at the ceiling, trying to shield his eyes from the heat and the light of the fire as it surged and grew.

Dean and Natalie stopped in the yard and looked up at Sam's window, they could still hear the roar of the fire; Sam made a noise in Dean's arms. "It's okay Sam." Dean said, Natalie scooted closer, fingers curling in his pajama top.

"Where's daddy?" Natalie whispered.

He appeared moments later, scooping all three kids into his arms at once. "I got you." He said, a little breathless, and ran them to the safety of the Impala parked across the street. They had barely made it to the road before the windows exploded.

The little family sat on the hood of their car. The father, holding his six-month old in his arms, and his four and three year old huddled close on opposite sides, wide eyes stared at the flurry of policemen, and firemen trying to save their house

John tried to hold in his trembling. His children needed him to be strong for them. Once the sun comes up, he's going to make a plan to hunt whoever- or whatever did this.

He pressed his lips to his youngest head, grateful his youngest would never remember this night.

He had work to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Supernatural

1-2-3 The Devil's After Me.

Pilot Part 2

~~Stillwater Minnesota~~

~*~October 14th 2005~*~

Black beaten up shoes looked out of place on the floor's shining, polished surface. They were well worn long before the current owner found them in her possession. They squeaked against the floor as broom bristles swept crumbs and other various food debris towards the isle.

Natalie couldn't help but scowl as she bent down to pick up the overgrown dust-bunny. _Why must everything be so sticky?_

She picked up a few more stray 'bunnies' from the frayed bristles and tossed them into her growing pile before sweeping it all into her dust pan.

She puffed a stray piece of yellow hair out of her face as she stood to her full height. Hunching over too small brooms and dustpans on wheels was hell on the back. She couldn't help but groan when the bell went off at the front, signifying a customer had just walked in.

Either Jenny forgot to turn the sign again or the person had paid no heed to the dimmer lights and lack of people.

"Damnit." She mumbled. She peeked behind her and saw the gentleman's half reflection in the dark store windows. He was standing at the counter trying to gain the attention of the other café barista who was in the back singing along with the radio and tending to the mound of dishes. She worked a stubborn bit of dirt into a pile as she spoke before looking back up,"Sir, I'm sorry but we're closed, we'll reopen-" her words stumbled to a stop and her jaw dropped open when the man turned, "Dad? What are you doing here?" She asked.

He smiled and walked towards her with his hands in his pockets, "Was wanting to talk to you," he said. He had his shoulders slightly hunched, kinda like what Sammy does when he is unsure of something.

"Did you drive all the way out here? Last I heard from Bobby, you were close to Olympia on a Black Dog, or a some kind of skinwalker case?" She whispered.

"It's not a problem, I'll tell you about it later. And boy- that's a story and a half, but I'm on my way to Jericho California on a case I could really use your help on. I had stopped to see Bobby- the old grouch, and he gave me the info. He said you were only living a few hours away. Things are changing fast out there and this case is interesting, and right up your ally. There have been a lot of people going missing."

"You came all the way out here to ask me to go hunting?" She deadpanned.

John's face fell a little. "I thought you'd like to help..."

Natalie sighed _. Her stubborn ass family..."_ No, you thought I'd come running to you the second you asked me. No- I'm not going," she said, gripping the broom tighter. Natalie refrained from saying 'I'm sorry' even though her father's fallen face compelled her too. There was still a lot of hurt feelings and damaged pride between them. "You told me the same thing you told Sammy when he left. If I leave I should stay gone- this is me-" she pulled at her damp, coffee stained apron, "staying gone." Her lips pulled into a scowl on their own violation. "Dean will have to help you, if you haven't pushed him away too."

"He's on a Hunt for malevolent spirit kicking up a fuss in one of the port areas of Georgia," he said, a warning growl coloring his tone, the former Marine coming out. "I need back up."

 _Where's all your friends…?_ She looked taken aback for a moment. "You let Dean have his own gig?"

"He's twenty-six Nat." He grumbled.

"I wasn't referring to his lack of ability or age. I know he's fully capable, it's just with your general over obsession over every detail of our lives, I'm just surprised that he's out there on his own for once and not under your thumb."

John's jaw clenched in true Winchester fashion as anger flared in his eyes. She had finally pushed his last button. "How dare you...you know...you are just as disrespectful as the day you left."

Natalie casually leaned against the side of the high table, completely at ease. "All I said was the truth, now and back then. And it will stand when the world's on fire."

After a brief stare down, John sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, his jaw still clenched. "Well, call if you change your mind." And he stalked out the door.

She knew her dad wasn't the kind to give up a fight that quick- he'll wait until they can continue where eyes and ears aren't likely to pry.

Natalie resigned herself for a bigger blow-out-fight when she got off work. The large truck she knew he drives had yet to rumble away. The thought of calling Uncle Bobby for backup was tempting. She shook her head, this was just what she needed after a long work day- family drama... she knew it was long overdue.

After she had finished sweeping she turned off more lights and went to where Jenny was still working on the dishes. "I'm out of here Jenny!" Nat yelled over the roar of the radio- it was some live version of a rock song, she had to yell in competition with the loud screaming of the crowd and the crescendo of the music.

Jenny had somehow heard her anyway. "Bye! Drive safe!" She turned and waved a soap covered hand with a large grin on her face.

Natalie smiled and tossed her apron on its hook, promising mentally to wash it sometime this week. "You too! G'night!" She slung her purse over her shoulder and fished her keys out of her cubby, holding it just like her brothers taught her. Holding the largest key like a sharp knuckle between her fingers. It would make for a hell of a punch.

 _"There's a lot of weirdos out there Nattie."_ Her brother, barely eighteen in the memory _. "Gotta be careful." He folded her hand around the Impala key just so. "Drive safe and behave." He said wiggling his eyebrows before allowing her to leave for her first date._

She turned the sign so it said "CLOSED" and made her way to the parking lot. The street beyond was almost deserted. There were only three cars in the dimly lit lot: Jenny's car, Nat's truck and John's big diesel guzzling monster; he was sitting on the tailgate, leaning against the tool box serving as an arsenal. John offered a glass bottled soda; he was half through a bottle of Miller. "I'm guessing you never grew to like beer did ya?"

Natalie took the classic cola as the small peace offering it was knowing a battle is still left to fight, she sighed, "I think I can count the number of alcoholic drinks on my fingers since I've seen you guys last." Nat admitted. Alcohol and her wasn't a great combination, a testament to the two times she was completely smashed. She sighed. "I can't hang around long," she pushed herself up onto the tailgate serving as a seat; "I have to pick up a roommate from work soon. Her car is out of commission."

"Want me to drive with you? I can have it fixed in no time at all." He offered.

"We already have a friend on it. He's waiting on the part to come in." Just a white lie.

John gave a quiet "oh." He took another swig of his beer and Nat twisted the cap off her soda. "Is there any use me trying to convince you to come?"

"No." Natalie said firmly. "I'm not craving normal or safe I want general predictability and honesty, and that life was full of lies, and deceit." She sighed, growing irritated. " _And you know the other reasons too. It's too much_." she hissed. "I don't like seeing what burning bones does to spirits. You never listen."John opened his mouth to speak but Natalie cut him off. "I know we saved a lot of lives, but the hero life isn't for me."

John nodded and opened another beer. "You said a hell of a lot more than that a few years ago."

"Because after Sam left you went into an angry frenzy trying to kill anything you could get your hands on."

"Because my son, your brother, up and left us in the dust!" John's voice rose in volume a little.

"He gave you fair warning, you wouldn't listen, you all but pushed him away. With every 'suck it up', 'grow up', 'don't be selfish Sammy'" she mocked then had to paused to stop her trembling voice. "Every A he worked for was to get a step away. He sure as hell didn't get any praise from you when he got them. He was always hoping to make you proud so when that failed he got them for himself."

 _Dean and I were always proud._ She thought.

"I warned Dean before I left. I knew you wouldn't hear it. Which was why I didn't give any notice." She signed and turned to her dad. "I love you, and Dean, and Sammy, I do. It's just... things are always little messed up, even at the best of times." She shook her head and pushed herself off the truck with a dry chuckle that held no humor. "This conversation is over, Dad. It wasn't supposed to be about Sam and me "bailing" on the family business. It's about me not answering to your beck-and-call. I'm an adult now that makes my own _honest_ wages and pays for my own board. You'll have to go on this hunt on your own."

She refused to feel the guilt that was slowly spreading over her. His face fell into a frown, and made a painful twinge in her chest. She reached and carefully set her soda down and walked closer to her dad and wrapped her arm around him in a half hug. "Call when you can?" she asked.

He let his empty bottle roll to the back of the trunk bed and he stood to his full height and wrapped his arms around her in a full bear hug, resting his chin on her head. "Of course."

Natalie buried her face in her father's flannel shirt and leather coat. "Promise?"

"Promise." he said, with a kiss on her forehead.

She nodded and wiped away a quick stray tear. Even though she stopped believing in his promises long ago, it still never failed to calm that longing of _predictability._ She picked up her soda and her dad closed the tailgate, pushing his tool box back in place. Her dad climbed in his truck and smiled at her. "If you talk to Sam anytime soon, tell him I hope all is well. And I am proud of him…"

"I will." _He would like to hear it from you himself._

He drove away, this large trunk rumbling down the dim street. She stood there until the headlights disappeared.

Shaking slightly she made her way to her smaller truck with a modified extended cab. Winchesters might leave the business, but it would be foolish to be unprepared if the need arose. She gripped her truck key and shoved it in the keyhole slot, and quickly climbing in and locking the doors behind her. The shrill ringing of her cell made her jump. She scrambled for it as it dove into the floorboards as he fumbled for it.

"Hello?" she asked shakily, she forgot to check the caller ID.

"Where the hell are you?" Bridget demanded into the phone.

"Hey. I am so sorry. I'm on my way." her voice still had a slight quiver. She put her phone to her ear, holding it in place with her shoulder and quickly started the truck up and threw it into gear.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, just fine...I'll tell you more when I get there. You're not having to wait in the dark are you?"

"I'm okay. Just, drive safe alright? Dan is still doing paperwork inside. I could ring the doorbell if there's trouble."

"I'm halfway there." she said, running a red light at a deserted intersection. Then another.

"I'm going to hang up so you can drive. See you in a bit Nat...you don't have to speed. Everything is fine."

"See ya in a bit." she hung up without further explanation.

She hit the curb as she pulled into the small parking lot in front of the small dinner.

Bridget quickly climbed in her truck. "Nice driving there 007." She turned to her friend in the limited light from the dash. "Need me to take the wheel for the rest of the way?"

"No. I'm fine, just...had a hard last bit of my day." she admitted.

"Did something go 'bump in the night' at the Cafe or something?"

Natalie sighed, she didn't mean for her friend to find out about her lifestyle before now, but it was kinda unavoidable with her salt hoarding issues and all the wards hidden in the walls, her extensive Latin knowledge, her lore books… Not to mention other _guests_ that has popped up a few times. "No. Not exactly." Natalie slowed down and obeyed the rules of the road on the route home.

"'Not exactly?'"

"Something went 'bump' elsewhere, and my dad showed up asking if I could help."

"Wait, your dad? Here in Stillwater?" She asked, well aware of the circumstances. She even met Sam a few times. "What did you say? Is that why you're shaking like a leaf?"

"I'm fine," she repeated. "And I said no."

"Then breathe," Bridget told her. "It's not your problem anymore."

Natalie clenched her jaw a little, holding her mouth in a tight line. _It's always my problem._

The rest of the ride home wasn't very eventful. They swapped a few stories about rude customers for the day, and absolutely split your gut laughing moments that had happened in- between. .

"Think Matthew will have the car fixed soon?" Natalie asked.

"I really hope so." her friend smirked, "as much as I love having a chauffeur," she snickered and added a side comment, "that can't get there ass to me on time, I would really like to have my baby back."

"Oh God, you're worse than my brother." Nat laughed.

"I didn't know Sam was the type to be sentimental about his car. Hey- you named yours."

"But I don't baby-talk him, and I meant my other brother- Dean- the oldest."

"Oh." Bridget mumbled. "I forget sometimes that it's not just you and Sam."

"It's hard not too sometimes..." she admitted.

They closed the door to the small apartment they shared. "Wanna check the answering machine?" Nat asked as she tossed the keys on the coffee table and chucked her coat across the room to the corner chair.

"Sure thing. If you get dinner started. I'm starved."

"Got it. Frozen Pizza or leftover lasagna?"

"Whatever is quicker. We got a message."

" _Hey, you reached the shared voicemail box of Nattie Winchester and Itty Wright- Please leave your number and we'll caaaaalll you back! Bye!"_ Their laughing voice chorused as a precursor to the message.

"Dude, we gotta change that…" Nat grumbled.

"I like it. It was the only time I've seen you less than sober. I want to cherish it.."

" _You have one message"_ the phone continued. " _Hey Nat, it's Sam_ ," she walked closer to the phone- hoping she just imagined the nervous tremor to his voice. Had Sam run into something big at Stanford? " _Just wanted to call and talk for a bit, couldn't reach your cell today."_ No phones out at work…shit… ' _Sam you worry-wart'_ she thought. " _If you could call when you get this that would be great. Also thought you might like to hear about my LSAT day. Talk to you later Kiddo- love you."_ The voicemail ended with a beep and the automated voice asked to delete or keep, and there were no remaining messages.

"Your Sam is such a sweetheart." Bridget smiled. "Go call him back. I'll do dinner duty. You'll just have to double up later this week." She winked.

"Whatever It." She smiled. _Sam about died when he heard her nickname. Sam and clowns…._ She picked up the phone, and unrolled all the cords before going to sit on the metal fire escape out the window. The phone was just shy of the window pane, but the bungee made it reach just a bit further. It was steadily becoming colder. The metal seeped the warmth from around her. Thin work clothes didn't provide much protection from cold or wet but the cold didn't really matter now; there was still a worry that something happened in California near Sam. He wouldn't put "there's a wendigo on my ass" in a voicemail. They didn't even have a code for it.

"Hello?" A female voice answered into the phone.

"Jess? It's Nat, is Sam home?"

"Yeah. He just came in from a run. He'll be a minute. He was drenched. And smelly." She giggled.

Natalie laughed out loud. "You'll grow immune. Brother fumes kinda killed my sense of smell long ago. Don't get me started on his Ax phase. He about killed us all."

"Didn't know he liked it." Jess said with genuine curiosity, but Nat could hear the hesitant tone. That stuff was stupid strong in a small apartment or hotel room.

"He didn't. He thought teen girls did. And he and Dean had a prank war one morning and both of them got it all over them."

"Oh lovely."

"Tell me about it. Dad made them walk the remaining 3 miles to school. So. How's everything? My nerd brother behaving himself?"

"Too well." Jessica laughed. "I'm going to try and get him to lighten up a little. Now that his LSAT is out of the way I hope I can get him to have a little fun."

" _Who you talking to?"_ I heard Sam yell curiously. Probably from their bathroom or the kitchen.

" _Your sister. She's telling me about how you got yourself covered in Ax body spray and giving me all the gory details of your pubescent teen years!"_ Natalie heard the muffled response as Jess held the phone away from her mouth to yell to Sam.

" _Natalie!"_ She heard him yell.

Nat just laughed in response.

"Think you're in trouble." Jess laughed.

"You don't sound sorry. You told on me."

"I leave you to the beast now- eekahaha! Sam stop it." She laughed. Nat guessed he had snuck up from behind and tackled her.

"Nat. Please stop trying to embarrass me." Her brother spoke into the phone.

"You do a pretty good job of that by yourself." She told him, and then made her tone serious. "You sounded a little frazzled on the phone little bro," she said, "nothing stuck to your shoes is there?" to anyone it almost sounded like teasing, but to a Winchester it was 100% serious, a second language they had all mastered over the years.

"No? Your shoes good?" now he sounded worried.

"All good here." she debated about telling him about dad. Since he will be in the area…"Just…."

Sam sensed her hesitation. 'What is it?"

"Dad stopped by tonight is all."

"Oh." There was so much hurt and understanding and resignation in one little word. A part of him knew better than to hope he'd get a similar visit. "What all did he say? Guessing he didn't stay long."

"No. He was just passing through." _He went out of his way to try and come get me and I dashed his hope like a paper cup on a highway._ "He wanted me to help out on a hunt. Thought he might head by you so I thought you should be prepared in case he decided to drop by. That way you'd have about a day's notice, but you know how he can beat around the bush a little when in his moods."

"I'll keep that in mind." he said. She heard a slight clicking sound through the phone.

"Give your nails a break bro. I'm sure they're to the bone after your Im' sure- LSAT victory."

Sam gave her a nervous chuckle. "I'll stop biting my nails when you stop biting yours."

"Point."

"And my score probably isn't that great anyway. It's not unlikely I'll have to take it again." his voice held that small quivver. Fear of Failure- her brothers worse fear.

"I'm sure you did fine." she repeated. "So did anything interesting happen? During test day?"

"A spectacular power outage."

"Oh man." Nat laughed. "I would have jumped out of my skin. Was it in the middle of the test?"

"Yep. But it came right back on so, no Biggy. It just kinda shakes your focus a little."

"Nat, the pizza is ready." Bridgit stuck her head out the window. "Tell Sam I say 'hey'."

"Brig says hi." Natalie laughed. "My dinner's ready, I need to go soon .Anything else you want to talk about?"

"Do you know what dad was hunting when he stopped by? Or where he was headed?" he said in a whisper.

"Just a Casper. Somewhere in California. Don't remember the name of the city."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Just stay safe okay? Halloween is coming up and I know how you college kids get."

"Sure ,Sure." Sam said dismissively. "I'm staying put on Halloween if I can help it."

" _Brady's party!"_ Jessica called from elsewhere. " _I told him we're going. Suck it up buttercup!"_

"I think your sass has rubbed off on her." Natalie noted.

"Ha ha." he chuckled. "Love ya."

"Love you too, oh and dad wanted me to tell you he hopped all was going well." she hated dropping last minute emotional bombs like that before hanging up but she did promise to pass on the message.

"Thanks Nat. Still going to see you Thanksgiving?" he asked.

"You're not getting out of it. I'm sorry." Natalie laughed.

"Wouldn't dream of it. Night Nat."

"Goodnight Sam." she hung up the phone and smiled. She sat back against the window frame and thought about giving Dean a quick call. It was hard not being able to talk to both her siblings with the same degree of closeness. She missed what they had when they were kids. She had been giving her older sibling more and more thought lately. If only they both weren't so terribly stubborn.

" Nat! You pizza is getting cold!" she heard from inside.

"Coming!" she called back. She stood and made her way back inside. She didn't see the large truck parked in the shadows watching quietly, and slowly and quietly pulling away.

The apartment was small, but large enough to set up the bedroom almost 'hotel' style. They had twin beds pushed up against opposite walls and had made each half of the room their own. Natalie laid on her back staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars they had stuck there when they moved in. Stars were always calming to look at. Her and her brothers always found an odd comfort in them. On nights their dad couldn't find some abandoned hovel to squat in, or a cheap motel with whatever limited funds they had at the time, they found themselves parked in the middle of nowhere. At first it was fun, camping out in the car, listening to the radio till the dead of night, but with two brothers and limited legroom, it quickly lost its luster.

But they did always enjoy the stars.

Nat turned over and saw her roommate was fast asleep. Tossing away the covers she sat up and padded her way out of the room. She pulled on a Stanford hoodie Sam had left behind on one if his visits that she never bothered to give back (and probably never would). Nat checked the time: 2 am.

She really wanted to talk to someone. A slight tingle of loneliness made her feel slightly chilled even with the added bulk of the sweatshirt. Pastor Jim would definitely not be awake. There was no telling what time zone Dean or her dad was in at the moment. And she wasn't sure she wanted to talk to them at that moment either. Uncle Bobby might be awake. She held the phone in her hand for a moment and decided not to chance it. Setting the phone down again she made her way out to sit on the fire escape again.

She felt colder and knew it had nothing to do with her emotions this time or the night air. She sighed. A familiar head of red hair was already there. "Hi Tommy." she said, sitting down next to the gangly teen, obviously not old enough to be smoking the cigarette that was in his hand. He always had one when she saw him."You're going to kill your lungs." she told him, every time.

"That's not my problem Sugar." he always replied.

Their conversations never changed.

"You should probably tell your mom about what happened today." she reminded him, eyeing the cut he held an old oil cloth to his side. "It's only going to get worse."

"Nah." he said. "Not gonna bother 'er with it."

"It's going to really bother her if you keel over."

He just laughed.

"Tommy, I'm serious."

"She ain't home."

"Is there anyone you can talk to?"

"Besides you?" he smirked then laughed. Even including a snort. "Keep dreamin'."

This part of their nightly conversation always became the hardest. 'Tommy, what's today's date?"

"Dude, you really gotta keep better track of that, it's December 15, 1975." he looked at her like he had a right to be concerned.

"Tommy, it's October 14th, 2005."

" No it ain't. Think you took a clonk to the noggin."

"No Tommy. You did. That night in December, you fell from this fire escape. You almost bled to death, you were hyperthermic when they found you. You died in a hospital a week later and you never regained consciousness."

He dropped his cigarette, it fell harmlessly through the grate and disappeared. "You're lyin'," he said, swaying, and flickering slightly.

"Tommy, you're a spirit, you need to find a way to find someone to take you away from here, your spirit doesn't belong here anymore."

He had stopped listening, he stared down at his side where the blood had soaked the oil cloth. His footing staggered and Nat watched him fall to the pavement below. There was nothing she could do. She watched as his body hit where it did 30 years ago. There was still the spider web shaped crack in the concrete where his head hit; the road had never been re-paved. She shook her head as Tommy's form flickered again and vanished even her line of sight. Sher buried her face in her hands for a moment, her long hair falling forward.

"Talked to Tommy again hu?" Bridget asked from behind her.

"Yeah. Same old same old. He's not going to understand. I'm going to have to burn his bones. I don't like doing it. He's gotten more and more solid looking, it won't be long until he stops denying he's dead, and becomes malevolent and starts causing problems."

"Isn't there a way to summon spirits to their graves? You did that with one of them."

"It's not a good idea. She was different, she wanted to see. Tommy doesn't."

"You've been talking to him for a year." her friend said, climbing out the window to join her on the grate.

"I know."

"What's so bad about burning their bones?"

"I don't know if they really end up at peace or not. They leave screaming instead and leaving with a smile. They just turn into this beautiful light and swirl away" she sat there a moment before turning to her friend. "I have you way to normalized to this."

"Kinda hard not to. I mean, it's your entire past, and who you are. I can't expect you to leave it outside everyday."

They sat outside just watching the night until both of their eyes grew heavy and they headed back to bed, hoping for at least a few hours of sleep.

The next few days were hard. Natalie traded to work morning shifts to have time to track down Tommy's parents. After a long day of research she found his mom and older brother were still alive.

"Now that you found them, then what?"

"I'm going to try and find something of Tommy's to bring them. Summon him that way, maybe seeing his mom might help snap him out of the echo to talk to them."

"And if they still don't believe you?"

"I've gotten Tommy to talk quite a bit, sometimes I can delay his echo to get to know him. What I know was never released to the public."

"Please tell me you have a backup plan, like incase they call the NutHouse and have you shipped off in Lalaland?"

"If I'm not back in 4 days, call Sam. If Sam can't get here, call my Uncle Bobby or Pastor Jim. I'll leave a list of family and friends if you can't get a hold of someone."

"Your brother Dean doesn't make the list?" Bridget asked curiously.

"He's halfway across the country as far as I know. It would be kind of hard to get him there if I needed a quick rescue, I don't doubt he would burn rubber to get to me if I needed him, but I do highly doubt I need a rescue, but...you never know."

"Where are you going so I know?" Her friend's eyes were wide and sincere. "I know you feel like I'm 'normalized' to this, but it still kinda makes me nervous."

Natalie smiled, "I'll write the address down and I'll call you when I get there. But before I go anywhere, I still have to find something of Tommy's."

"Good luck." A horn honked from outside. "There's my ride for today, anything else I can help with?"

"No. I got it."

"See you tonight." her friend said as she hurried out the door.

Natalie scanned the area where Tommy fell, not many knew why the pavement was dented, like it was, many assumed it was a growing pothole. It made her shiver.

It was an odd spot to walk around, piles of wooden crates, and abandoned tidbits of furniture. If there was a slightest possibility of finding anything he dropped when he died, it would be here. As she continued to tread through the rubbish, Tommy's form flickered into view, standing a few feet away. He looked confused.

"Hi Tommy." She said.

"You shouldn't be down here." was all he said.

"Why?"

His form flickered in and out for a moment before looking more solid. He was growing more powerful. He was holding something in his hands. A watch?

"What do you have there?" she asked softly. The echo was over, at least for now, she really was talking to Tommy, just Tommey.

"It's my dad's. And my grand-dads before that." He held up the watch and it spun, even in phantom form, it glinted and shimmered. "Please don't tell them I lost it." and he flickered away.

Natalie took advantage of Tommy's absence to search the dump like area for the locket. It was either here, or got sold at a pawn shop decades ago.

A day of searching provided negative results. It wasn't at the apartment, but one call to her Geek brother gave her the information she needed. Sam was always better at research.

"Why do you keep calling me for research?" Sam huffed over the phone.

"Because you're better at it. The best out of all of us. It's not even technically a hunt." Natalie was doodling on a notepad, "Did you find the place where the locket is?"

"Yeah, and get this, the place that houses it, reeks of supernatural activity, there's testimonies about weird crap going all the way back to at least '1865." and that's only just the reported cases."

"Sounds like my kind of place…" Natalie said with a sigh. "Where is it?"

"It's in Fairmont Minnesota, you'll be close enough to Blue Earth to probably stop and see Pastor Jim."

Natalie unrolled her map from the wall in her closet, holding the phone to her ear. "Winchester Luck is in our favor today. Everything is all on the same stretch of highway. Tommy's family moved to Albert Lea in the late 80's."

"You're going to freak them out when you show up yapping about him."

"Always do." her tone was a little resigned. _Freaking people out. My specialty._

There was silence on the line for a bit. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Sam said quietly. "I was just trying to tease."

"You didn't. You're good." Natalie sighed. "It's all part of the job description really." Natalie retraced her line that she had made for her route on she made on her map.

"It doesn't have to be," Sam said, "you can do whatever you want. Be whatever you want. Hey, apply here at Stanford with me. You'd make a hell of a lawyer yourself."

Nat laughed. "Not for me Sammy."

"Its Sam." he corrected.

"Whatever. But really, laywer-ing is your thing. I couldn't be in the medical field. Too many people die. I don't go looking for spirits, they find me and I help out. I don't need them coming to me in droves along with a full time job. I already deal with zombies, you should see the locals before their coffee. Terrifying."

"Um...pretty sure the zombies here are worse. College students."

"Yeah yeah…" Nat mumbled. "I'm going to be heading out in a day or so to get the locket. I'm leaving a call list for Bridge incase things go south. Pastor Jim will be closest, then Bobby and then I have you...and Dean."

"Fair. Does he even the same number?"

"Think so. Was he not answering or the phone not working?"

"He hasn't called."

"Yeah...but you know you can always call him. And if you called dad too I'm sure he'd answer." _Eventually_.

"I'll...call Dean later… see if he can be in the area in case you need him." She couldn't help but notice he almost sounded scared.

"How about you start with a 'how are you?' When was the last time you talked to him?"

"Once since I left for Stanford." _It didn't sound like it went well._ "It was about a year and a half ago. A hunt with dad didn't go well and he asked if I could come and help them out of a mess. I said 'no.'"

"You didn't do it out spite kiddo. Dad said some pretty hurtful crap when you left."

"But it wasn't dad that asked. It was Dean."

"Don't beat yourself up. That fight was horrible. It still makes me cringe."

"I think it was spite…" Sam sighed, "I-I need to study. I should go."

"Keep your head up Sam. It'll be okay." she tried for last minute reassurance.

"Bye Nat." She could hear the small half smile in his voice.

After hanging up with her brother Natalie sighed. She stared at the map where she had traced her route over and over again. "You're a better person than I am Sammy." she mumbled to herself.

She reached up into the top shelf of her closet and pulled her old canvas duffle out of the closet. It was stained in almost every way possible. It brought a small smile to her face when she saw scribbles all over in Sharpie. Some were made by an unsteady, chubby hand of her youngest brother, and the ones that had darker black patches were more of the crude variety from her older brother in his teen years that she had attempted to cover up. There was also the occasional faded blood stain here and there. They were covered in doodles to look less conspicuous.

She packed away a few changes of clothes. One thing her father drilled into her brain was preparedness. Nat laid down on her stomach half under her bed and pulled out her sawed off shotgun. The special one that held all the rock salt. Her and her brothers got the _privilege_ of fixing their own shotgun when they turned 14. It didn't work when she finished but Dean helped her cheat a little and fixed it.

He had fixed Sam's a little too well then. It was almost better than dad's. It didn't go unnoticed.

She packed away her box of salt rounds and the gun and moved it all under her clothes. There was no use in getting into more trouble than she was bound to find. She picked her phone back up and punched in the numbers quickly and waited.

"Hello?" came the gruff response.

"Bobby." she answered.

His voice automatically became three tones softer, or as soft as Bobby Singer could speak. "Hiya Sweetheart! Hows huntin' that spirit you're after going?"

"Not quite a hunt Uncle Bobby." _wait… "_ How did you know I was after a spirt?"

"Sam gave me a call. The first damn call the idjits made sense going off to that fancy school of his. The boy still doesn't know where half his board payment comes from."

Natalie laughed. "Don't tell him or he'll lose his mind. And try and pay you back when he graduates."

"Like I'll let him. I'll just sneak it back into his account." Bobby snorted.

"And he'd wire it back. Don't challenge him." Nat laughed. _Lord help us when he gets something stuck in his head._ "I was wondering if you could help me out with one little thing before I head out to Fairmont Minnesota. There's an antique locket I need to get to this spirit...and it might need...confiscated as old...cold case evidence…"

"Agent Mike Kayser reporting for duty." he chuckled. "Just tell me when and where to make the call and consider it done. If you come and visit when you're finished."

"If you have your famous stew waiting, I'll be there."

"Cheeky brat." he chuckled.

"Love you too." she smiled. "I'm heading out tomorrow. I left your number on an emergency call list for Bridget."

"You call me when you're done and out of any danger. Understand?"

"Yes sir." She remembered one last detail to share before hanging up. "Oh and Bobby, some advice, you should probably play nice and make some sheriff friends. It helps out a great deal when you have to do...less than legal things during a hunt."

"Do I seem like an idjit to you?"

"So you and Miss Rhodes are just peaches and cream then hmm?"

"Its 'Mills' now, and that ain't your concern."

She just laughed. "Take care."

She couldn't mistake the smile in his voice. "You too." she ended the call with a small smile still on her face. On a small impulse decision, and trying to follow her own advice, she dialed Dean's number. After listening to it ring then go to voicemail, she hung up before the 'beep' signified she could leave a message. _Damned if I do, damned if I don't I guess..._ she thought. Shaking her head she wandered into the kitchen. _Coffee, tea, or whiskey_? She wondered...opening one of the cabinets


	3. Chapter 3

Supernatural

1-2-3 The Devil's After Me.

Pilot Part 3

~~Fairmont Minnesota~~

~*~October 27th 2005~*~

 _Early Monday traffic wasn't too bad._ Natalie thought. _If I was a patient person._ She parked outside the coffee shop across the street from the pawn shop. She was dressed in her 'Fed Suit'. Natalie normally avoided her suits like they held the sequel to the plague. She liked her soft button down shirts and jeans. She crossed the afternoon traffic at a sprint after a quick glance and stepped into the shop.

"Can I help you ma'am?" the owner said, after the door closed with a jingle. Natalie did a quick visual sweep of the shop and its owner. She was normally very good at reading people, and she didn't like what she saw. The owner looked like he could turn unpleasant on a dime. No one wore a tie that expensive for the hell of it in a place like this.

She schooled her features and took a breath pulling her badge from her pocket. "Yes, I'm agent Jane Stradlin, I'm with the cold case division." she snapped the badge closed and tucked it back into her pocket. "My advisor, Mr. Mike Kayser called ahead for me about a locket for a case we are re-opening on Tommy Douglas."

The store manager's response was a short laugh, "Stradlin? Like Guns and Roses 'Stradlin.'"

"The very same, no relation. If I had a dollar every time someone asked if we were related, I could retire early."

The manager laughed again. "But what would your division do without you? You seem like the kind of kid that gets their shit done and everyone else's." He laughed at his own joke. Natalie just pursed her lips, unimpressed. "That locket you're after is through here by the way. When your advisor called I put it up. Leave it to Murphy's law that no one wants the ugly thing until the Feds want it."

He pulled back a curtain and invited her into the back room. Natalie didn't like having to pass through the doorway in close proximity to the man but did any way and kept her shoulders back and head up.

"This store is really old. What's the oldest thing you would say is in here?" she said making conversation. They walked through a spirit standing and staring at a necklace in a box lined with velvet. They didn't notice Natalie's quick glance away.

"My family was wealthy, they owned a few factories and shops like this in the 1900's and 1920's, and managed to keep a hold of their fortune when the depression hit. They offered people hard on money to sell some of their heirlooms for cash. They gave them 5 years to buy the items back, or let them chose to sign it away, and then they were sold overseas for twice their worth. Depression ended and the business continued as such. The earliest shop opened in 1860."

 _Over 150 years' worth of spirit amo. Awesome._ She dodged another spirit, this time, a little boy looking longingly at a toy sailboat. He looked right at her, "Mummy, I can't reach it. Can you get it for me?"

She pretended not to see as they continued down the cluttered hall and back room even as the boy continued to call ' _Mummy?'"_

She was grateful when they finally arrived at the owner's desk. The locket was setting out on an old cloth and had a small box next to it. Ready for packing.

"So uh...Will I get this back?" the man asked from behind the desk: leaning forward so even with the 'superior' barrier was still able to invade Nat's personal bubble, Used to having all the men in her life a head and a half taller than her, she wasn't fazed.

"Possibly. It all depends if the family desires to keep it once the case is closed. It is still here, and after all, it belongs to them."

The man just scowled. "Will I receive compensation?"

"I cannot give a for-sure answer, but since it is evidence, withholding it is a crime. I say we play it by ear. Or would you like to speak to my advisor again?"

Natalie couldn't hold back the small smirk when she climbed into the truck with the locket tucked away in its box. Bobby was very good at his job. She pulled out of her spot and continued down the road. Once she was a good ways away from the shop she pulled off the side of the road and called Bobby. She got his answering machine.

"All good here. On the road again. Thanks Bobby." She hung up and pulled away from the shoulder, bound for Alberta Lea.

She somehow missed the shiny glint of a car parked not far away pull out to follow.

Back at the shop things were not well.

"I'm sorry Sir, she left before I could-" The man was talking to a bubbling bowl of deep dark red liquid. A hissing whisper responded, and he responded. "No. she was alone. Just her." More hissing. "She's clever. She expected something, I'm sure of it. I think it's time we aim for the youngest. They are too far away to help." The hissing grew more intense. "I'm sorry master." he repeated.

This time there was no his but a delighted voice saying " Oh, you have not begun to feel sorry yet."

The man let out a terrified squeak, and in just a snap of fingers, the super expensive tie was soaked in blood and the office was left with his body scattered around the shop and the reeking smell of sulfur.

Natalie stood outside her truck, trying to shake the 'someone is watching me' feeling, but not feeling anything malicious surrounding it, kept it filed in her mind. Alert, but not on edge. Tommy was sitting in the cab holding the boxed locket in his lap. Natalie nodded to him then turned to stare across the street at the older man - Tommy's brother Nicholas- was working in the spacious yard. An old woman, their mother, was sitting on the porch watching him work.

"Are you ready Tommy?"

"You'll make me go any way if I say no." he said appearing next to her.

"Good." Natalie reached in through the open window for the box and approached the gate with Tommy trailing behind her. Talk about the stereotypical "apple pie life." White picket fence and everything. Natalie knocked on the gate, and Nicholas looked up.

"Come on in, can we help you?"

Natalie took a small shuddering breath. _Here goes nothing._ "I'm here to help you really." She said offering the box first. "This belongs to you guys."

He took the box, surprised, "It's not my birthday." he laughed. As a joke but opened the box, his smile fell to an expression of shock which switched to sorrow and so many emotions in between. "Where did you find this?" he whispered.

"A pawn shop in Fairmont."

"Come up to the porch with us." he invited. "Mom, you have to see what this kind girl brought back to us!"

"It was your grand-dad's, right?"

Nicholas looked a little startled but settled. He guessed it wasn't too hard to put together. "Yeah, he gave it to our dad, then dad gave it to me and my brother to look after when he left to go fight in Vietnam." his expression pulled down for a moment before forcefully being pulled back into a smile again. It didn't reach his eyes.

The horrible thought of seeing one of her brothers having to live with one of them permanently gone from the world crossed her mind. This man never stopped missing his little brother.

They crossed the porch and he handed his mother the box. Her expression was only pure shock. She quickly stood and offered a hug, "Bless you dear. Oh bless you!" Natalie allowed the crushing hug. When the woman released her she reached in the box to stroke the pocket watch. "I thought I would never see this again." She whispered.

Now came the hard part.

"I didn't just find it on a whim. I was...told...in a way to find it." Natalie cringed internally at her choice of words. Might as well drop the mike now.

His mother stared confused. "What do you mean Dear?"

"I live in an apartment complex in Stillwater. The same one you guys lived in in 1975. The year Tommy…"

"How do you know his name?" Nicholas asked a hint of fearless protectiveness in his voice.

"It's not like its private knowledge Chol." Tommy smirked, his comment only heard by Natalie. "Ever hear of an Obit big brother?"

Natalie had to fight to roll her eyes, Tommy only heard of an 'Obit' when she and Sam were looking through records to see what on earth she could say to the family so they could believe she wasn't completely insane.

"I've talked to him." She panicked when she saw the anger in the man; he was pointing at the yard, ready to tell her to leave, "Please! Hear me out, I talk to spirits, and I have been talking to Tommy for a little over a year. He lived in what's called an 'Echo' for most of it where he relives his death over and over and he's been stuck at the apartment and every day he told me it was December 15,1975, he died in the hospital later," she had to take a breath she was speaking so fast. "Please believe me, I'm not crazy, when you asked me how I knew his name, he got all snarky- asking if you ever heard of an 'obit' and he called you Chol."

All the anger faded from his face. "'Chol'" his face fell, and he started searching the porch for his little brother. "Is he here? Is Tommy here or is he stuck still on the night he died…?" he sounded panicked.

"No. he's here. I somehow broke the echo when I was hunting for any belongings in the little area where he fell. It kind of turned into a dump yard and it hasn't been cleaned in decades. And that's when he showed me the pocket watch. He said he had lost it.

His mother had remained quiet through the whole explanation. She just said, "Tommy boy…I can feel you lurking there by the step…" Tommy froze, his face was slightly fearful.

"Hi Momma," He said quietly, lower lip wobbling a little before he bit it to control his emotions.

Natalie didn't know it was possible for spirits to cry. Tears were falling down his face.

"Come and see your Momma properly hu?"

Tommy stepped a few steps closer, and the decrease in temperature had nothing to do with the October breeze. Everyone was surprised when he shimmered into view of all.

Everyone gasped.

 _At least I don't need to interpret any more. And they know I'm not crazy._

"Tommy Honey…" his mother reached for his phantom form to hold his face. "Why are you still here Baby?" she asked him.

"I don't know momma. When I woke up, and no one could see me, and hear me I got scared...and the people in suits came after me-"

"Reapers. They take souls to the afterlife." Natalie explained.

"I got stuck and couldn't get out." he finished.

"Tommy," Natalie got to his level with his mom, "The reason I brought you here was so you could bring the locket...and say goodbye like you wanted. You don't belong on earth anymore. Spirits that can reach corporeal form can hurt people if they get upset enough. You'll be happier."

"I don't wanna leave now!" he said, the breeze picking up.

"Mind your tone boy." His mom told him.

Nicholas had been quiet through most of it and finally chose to speak up again. "The wait will seem shorter in the light buddy. Mom and I will be there before you know it." he swallowed the lump in his throat. "You could see dad, and grand-mama, and grand-dad, and everyone."

"But…" he looked panicked. "If my only way to heaven is with a reaper...I..I haven't seen one since...since I…"

His family did look distraught now. "How can he move on now?" they asked.

Natalie bit her lip before starting, "typically, the way I have seen spirits, spirits that become vengeful and upset, people," _my family_ "burns the spirits bones. But that method...I am not sure if the spirit is put the rest then. If the body is already cremated, then the spirit is normally attached to something they were in life. Same rules apply, I don't know what happens to them after. I'm sorry I brought up that possibility, but...it might just be spirts not completing their mission when they get upset when their bones are burned, I am not sure...but...the second option is just as risky…"

"What is the second option?" his brother demanded right off.

"I can summon a reaper. It's tricky, and they don't like being called, but as long as they get to do their job, they are happy."

"Well...I'm not too fond of you disturbing my baby's resting place, so summon away."

"Can we do it inside please?" Natalie asked. "It looks a little suspicious." Everyone nodded. "I'll get what I need for the spell out of my truck." without giving them time to argue she took off to get the ingredients.

Natalie shook a vial of powder into an old stained wooden bowl, and dumped the contents of a velvet bag that looked a lot like the bones of a small animal.

"What the hell is all this?" Nicholas asked, looking at all the words he didn't recognized sprawled over the page. If he didn't know better he'd guess it was Latin.

"Its best you not know." Natalie continued to add more ingredients. How ironic, they hunted witches, yet at times resorted to spells themselves to get things done.

"You have bones in there," he said, somewhat frightened.

"It's a bird from a graveyard" was all she supplied. She lit a small white candle to have at the ready. "This part may make you squeamish if you don't like the sight of blood." Natalie took out her gold and pearl handled stiletto knife. It was a bit fancy for this type of job, but it cleaned well. She flicked it open and held it next to her palm. "Seriously, I recommend not watching this bit." she waited till Nicholas turned away before she slid the knife over her skin, hissing a little at the sting of the blade over scar tissue and as her blood dripped into the bowl she started the incantation, eyeing her book if she messed up, they were screwed. "Veni ad nos servi Domini mors, et adesse festinant tempora. Ave, animae, non perdidi in solo tuto creditur. Venite defer aeternitatem." Once she finished she grabbed the small wooden pick lit it from the candle and threw it in the bowl, a great amount of sparks flew from the bowl and the lights began to blink.

 ****Translation**** **Come to us, Servants of Death, make haste. A Child, a Soul, is lost in The Veil. Come, carry them to their eternity.**

"I feel it coming." Tommy said.

"Say your goodbyes kiddo." Natalie said gently. "When reapers are summoned like this they won't wait long. They have work to do."

Tommy turned to his family and smiled at them. "I'm sorry." he said, "I love all of you."

"Time to go." The reaper appeared on the stairs. He was a tall, thin looking man with a severe expression. Tommy and I were the only ones that could see or hear him.

"It worked." Natalie whispered to Tommy's family.

"I just need one more second," he told him. He approached me and whispered in my ear. "I know what my mother said...but just to be safe, so I can't get stuck here at all again, please still burn my bones. Just to be safe." he told me. "And thank you," he said. "You'll always be my friend Sugar." he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and I laughed. Leave it to Tommy….he held his shoulders back and approached the reaper. "Okay Pal. I'm ready." And Tommy was gone. Just like that.

His mother cried and his brother left the room.

Natalie looked up the stairs and just smiled. Her father could rant and rave his way was better all he wanted. But this brought peace and closure. The extra effort was worth it.

As his mother wept Natalie quickly bandaged her hand with an adhesive pad. It was going to make fulfilling Tommy's last wish a bit of a bitch. Digging up a grave with her hand all cut wasn't going to make a fun evening. After cleaning up the little bit of spilled blood and the ashes from the spell that spilled, she started to pack away all her things. .

"Thank you Dear for coming all the way out here to tell us and helping him."

"Not a problem ma'am. It's...kinda my family's business."

The woman just smiled. "Then I know who to find if I get stuck in the veil." she winked at me and went to her oldest son who was crying on the back porch. Natalie saw herself out.

Natalie was exhausted from the day's events, and even though it was out of her way now, she drove back to Blue Earth to see Jim Murphy. Knowing if he found out she passed through without saying 'hello' she wouldn't hear the end of it till the angels came calling, maybe not even then.

She pulled up to his nice little church. He was normally always there. She snuck in and made her way quietly inside. She knew better than to sneak up on a hunter, but Jim and her used it as a training exercise on stealth whenever one was in the area. Whoever lost a round had to buy the other a meal. She was almost on him when the stupid floor creaked.

"Damn." she whispered.

"Is that a Winchester I hear cursing in the Lord's house?" he asked without turning around.

"Sorry." Natalie said.

He turned a smile on his face. "There's a new Italian place that opened up down the block...today seems like a good day to try it out." he winked, then opened his arms for a hug. "It's been too long."

Natalie walked to him and returned the hug. "I was in the area and knew I couldn't get away with not stopping by."

"Once I finish up here we can go out for lunch. Ignore my joke from earlier. I have lunch taken care of. It's a returned favor for taking care of a nasty problem for the owners. They say me and a guest are set for life." Jim was replacing all the candles too small to light. Natalie walked forward to join him and helped move the short but useable candles toward the front.

"What was it?"

"A demon. And a low ranking one at that. It was mostly causing trouble. Saying 'Christo' alone almost made it smoke out alone. It took it less than a minute to save the person it possessed and send the thing back to hell." Pastor Jim picked up a candle that looked like it had been chewed on. He shook his head and put in in the box.

"Do you still melt the old ones down to make more?"

"Sure do. And I put in a layer of protection carvings and holy beads as well." He tossed the last few into the box. "That should cover it. I'll bring in my new ones later tonight. But first- on to lunch. Then I assume you gotta be on your way?"

"Yeah. Have to go back and make sure Bridget isn't burning down the apartment."

The pastor laughed. "You friend is quite the character. I'm surprised you trusted her to tell her about everything. I was quite startled when she asked me if I saw many ghosts around the church's graveyard when you both came to visit last summer."

"I think you're confusing me with my dad. He doesn't trust anyone as far as he could throw them. I think that includes my brothers and me sometimes."

Jim set the box down on the pew and turned her to get Nat's attention. "Natalie Mill Winchester," He said, looking very stern, squeezing her shoulder "You father trusts you and your brothers completely, how could you think otherwise?"

"Before maybe. Sam and me both left him and Dean in the dust. He came asking for help and I said no. There's no way he trusts me now"

"You father said some hurtful things, saying no to going with him when you have a life built like you wanted was not being mistrustful, or even mean. It was protecting yourself and being loyal to your current engagements," he told her.

"But being loyal to my family comes first. Should come first." Natalie stepped away from Pastor Jim, she could only tolerate so much of his piercing gaze.

"Before John came asking for your help, when was the last time you had spoken?" he asked softly.

"The day I left."

Jim picked up the box and started walking like the conversation was over. "Your father is a stubborn man. Believe me, I know, but he loves all three of you. He just doesn't have the ability to pull his head out of his ass long enough to show it properly sometimes." He adjusted his grip on his box. "Now...I don't know about you Nattie Kant, but I could go for some lunch….still coming?" he smiled.

Natalie smiled too and followed him out the church doors.

As soon as Natalie pulled into her driveway she called to tell Bobby she was home.

Safe and sound.

Spirit gone to wherever they go, all she had to do was salt and burn the bones for good measure, and at the request of Tommy himself. She called Sam as well.

She unloaded most of her supplies and put what was needed in the hidden compartment of her closet. She was surprised she had beaten Bridget home. Changing into some darker, comfier clothing she started making dinner. She would do the salt & burn much later. She found a frozen apple pie in the freezer and she shook her head. It had been a while since they had actual desert with their dinner besides a box of cookies so she decided to humor her friend and mentally promised to make it for tonight.

When everything was finishing up and the pie was in the oven Bridget walked in red faced and giggly.

"What's wrong with you?" Nat chuckled watching her friend squirm and blush deeper, slidding down the wall a little.

"Nothing. Just saw the hottest guy in the world outside. We _talked_ for a bit. We might go on a date tomorrow," Bridge said.

"Did you get a name?" she asked chuckling.

Her face fell. "No. Damnit," she blushed deeper still, "We were kinda…occupied."

Natalie laughed a little harder. "He was probably just a tease any way. Come on, dinner's ready, and pie's in the oven."

Her face brightened. "I'm glad your home and not in the loony bin," her friend gave a cheeky smirk, "I'd starve without you. Let me go change." she left to their shared room.

They had barely just sat down to eat when she heard a knock on the door. "It might be him." Natalie smiled, "Go answer it."

"I'm in my P.J's"

"So? They're cute P.J's" Natalie smirked, wiggling her brow a little.

"Now, who's the tease?" Bridget smirked and stood up. She quickly ran her fingers through her hair a second before opening the door. "Oh Hi... again!" she smiled. "It _is_ him Nat."

"Invite him in. We have pie." These parts were safe. The dream catcher woven into a devil's trap above the door kept them even safer.

"I do love me some pie." he chuckled.

Natalie froze mid stand. Bridget looked at her shocked face. "What?" She asked.

Natalie finally stood to her full height and carefully moved around her friend and saw her oldest brother standing in the door. "Dean?"

He chuckled, eyes twinkling, "Still gonna invite me in?" He gave his trade mark grin and ducked into his coat. _Always such a little boy..._

"Wait...your other brother Dean...this Dean…?" Bridget pointed at him.

"The one and only," he winked at her.


	4. Chapter 4

Supernatural

1-2-3 The Devil's After Me.

Pilot Part 4

Natalie thought Bridget's head was gonna explode when she turned a violent shade of red.

 _Did they do more than just kiss...not going there._

Natalie gave a frustrated sigh and stepped aside. "So...uhh…what are you doing in Minnesota?" \

He walked in looking in all the corners of the room as he entered, looked up even, and smiled slightly. "That's kinda clever little sis," He nodded up at the trap and naturally gravitated towards the kitchen."And a guy can't come by and see his sister?" he asked, opening cupboards looking for plates.

"Left of the fridge- top shelf," Nat instructed, "That's fine...but they usually call first."

Dean just shrugged, "Thought about it. Besides, you were kinda busy today. How was Pastor Jim?"

Remembering her creepy feeling of being watched earlier rose to the surface. "Where you _spying on me?"_ Her voice almost reached a high indignant squeak.

"Come on Nat. I was there for backup, I thought you would have _seen_ me coming any way."

Natalie continued to glare, "Clearly, I didn't. Why are you really here?"

Dean glanced at Natalie with this _look_ , it was his clever little way of saying ' _shits gone down_ ' "Can I talk to you outside?" he asked.

Sighing, Natalie nodded, "Sure. Bridge, we'll be right back."

Her brother winked at her roommate before following Natalie outside. "Okay…what's wrong? You wouldn't come get me unless it was something big."

"When was the last time you heard from dad?" He asked, leaning against the wall, ill at ease on the surface, but a whole mess of emotions boiling under his skin. Natalie wondered how she missed it before.

"About three weeks ago." Nat answered.

"Damnit." Dean muttered. "I haven't talked to him in nearly four, even then it was brief."

"Sam hasn't seen him either."

Dean perked up, "You talked to Sam? How's he doing?"

"Good. He's doing really good," Natalie bobbed her head, Sam was great. He had always been as awkward as a fish out of water. Stanford was his pond.

Dean nodded, a small, sad smile pulled at his lips.

"He misses you," She supplied.

Dean kicked the wall a little with his shoe, "Why doesn't he call then?" He peeked up at her from his lowered head.

"Two way street bro," Nat said with a shrug.

Dean just nodded, clenching his jaw, "He's always been a stubborn little bitch."

"What do you think happened to dad? He said he was hunting something in Jericho California last I heard…" Nat said, changing the topic. They needed to stow away the crap and wait for a better time to deal with it. First things first. Dad.

"Yeah that's right…he's missed all the check ins we have set up. His phone keeps going straight to voicemail."

"Right," Natalie said with a sigh, "Want me to help you find him?"

"I thought I'd have to ask, or beg." Dean said with a slight smirk.

"Don't confuse me helping, with me being back in the hunting game. Once we find him, you're bringing me back."

"Fair." Dean agreed with a sigh.

"We leave at noon tomorrow. Come eat some dinner, Lord knows you've eaten at every greasy spoon you could find from where ever you were to here."

"Hey, the grub in New Orleans was pretty damn good! I got feed pretty well down there," he said rubbing his stomach, following his sister back into the apartment.

"Help with a Salt'n'Burn tonight? I promised someone."

"Sure. You know me. Always up to start a fire." He said, bouncing on his heels.

"Good. You get to meet Bert."

Dean stopped in his tracks… "Whose Bert?"

Natalie waited till long after midnight before heading out with her brother to the graveyard where Tommy was buried.

"Did the ghost not cross over?" Dean asked, taking the first digging shift as Natalie held the flashlight.

"No, he did," Natalie smiled a little, rubbing the cut on her palm. They've had to dig with worse injuries.

"How'd the family handle it?" He stopped digging a second to wipe the sweat off his brow.

"Hard. They always do."

Dean nodded, holding his lips in a hard line. "What was their story?"

"Tommy…he, um, lived in an echo for a long time. I got all my info when I could get him talking. His father left for Vietnam, and left him a gold watch on a chain to look after while he was gone, he lost it in a street brawl and someone knifed him."

Dean's lips were held in a tight line, shaking his head, "Humans. The worst sort of monster out there," he muttered.

Natalie nodded in agreement. "He hid on the fire escape all night, scared to go inside and tell his mom he lost the watch. He passed out from blood loss, falling off the escape and hitting his head. Lasted about a week in the hospital as a vegetable before passing."

Dean just gritted his teeth, "It's a thousand wonders he wasn't corporeal."

"Ready to swap?" Natalie asked, changing the subject.

"Nah, I've been in a car almost all day. I'm good, 'sides, you got a bandage on your hand."

"We've dug but graves with worse."

"Doesn't mean we have to now though. How'd you get it?"

"A summoning ritual. I summoned Reapers to get Tommy."

"Like…a spell?" He asked.

"Like a spell." Nat confirmed.

"So…Sam goes off to Stanford, and you go off to Hogwarts. Fan-freakin-tastic.

Dean leaned against a grave stone drenched in sweat, the heat from the fire burning away the bones were not helping.

"Here, I have an extra shirt to change into after we re-fill it." Natalie handed it over along with a water bottle.

"Boyfriend?" he asked, looking at the band logo he didn't recognize.

"Nah, I just like to keep extra shirts on hand just in case, found a big batch at a yard sale. And I'm not letting you back in my truck all wet and smelly." Natalie sat down next to a grave and watched the fire start to die down in Tommy's final resting place.

Dean shrugged and pulled his shirt off and rolled it up, finding a dry pit to wipe his face. "Your truck has a pretty nice set up."

"Thanks. I'm gonna leave it at Bobby's when we go get Sam, there's no way I'm leaving my truck and its arsenal with Bridget.

"Fair," Dean nodded and moved to sit on the ground next to his sister. He nudged her with his shoulder in a playful sibling like gesture. "Missed ya, and sorry I missed your call earlier."

"Chick flick moment bro? Really?"

He just snorted and stood back up. "Okay. Hard part's over, gonna fill it back up again."

"I'm helping." she said, grabbing the spare shovel.

The layer of grass they had carefully cut up was laid back over the grave, along with a pack of cigarettes. Natalie smiled a little and ran her fingers over the top of the grave in farewell as she followed her brother back to her truck.

Dean sighed as he slipped the clean shirt over his head. "You still haven't told me who Bert is…"

Natalie smirked and gestured to her truck.

"Classy." He laughed and climbed into the passenger seat.

They sat in silence in the cab for a second. "I've been thinking...maybe it is time I join you and dad again"

Dean looked surprised, "Really? You'll come back?"

Natalie nodded, and started the car and jerked the gear shift into drive, "I'll have some conditions with dad...like no burning bones and questions later. We'll deal with spirits my way. I'm not going to blindly condemn souls to who knows what when I know I can get them to where they belong."

"Fair enough Ghost Whisperer," Dean smiled.

The sky was looking rosy as the begging of sun rise started over the horizon as her truck rolled back into the main part of town. "Coffee?" Natalie asked.

"Please." Dean mumbled, setting his head back in the seat and getting comfortable for a quick nap.

There was still a lot to do.

Resign from work, pack up, drop truck with Bobby, get Sam, and find dad.

A Winchester's work was never done.


	5. Chapter 5

upernatural

1-2-3 The Devil's After Me.

Pilot Part 5

 _ **Trigger warning: mention of miscarriage. (brief convo)**_

 __Stillwater Minnesota~~

~*~October 28 2005~*~

Dean was nearly asleep when Natalie climbed out of the car, "You okay here a sec?" Nat asked, "I got to take care of some stuff inside."

Dean waved her away, "Sure, sure, I'm fine."

"Whatever, key's in the ignition if you want radio or whatever."

After being waved off a second time she just shrugged and made her way inside, she peeked over her shoulder for a second and saw two booted feet being propped on her dash. _He's gonna scrub when we get home._

Seeing her boss chatting with a regular, she moved off to the side, to find a good time to step up to talk "Oh, Natalie, hi!" he said, "I was just about to call, can you work closing tonight? I gotta leave early tonight for my grandbaby's soccer game. I know you it's your off day, if you can't that's fine, but it would be _really great_ if you could...you don't have to."

Fighting the impulse to roll her eyes, "Actually," Nat started, grimacing instead, "I have a bit of a family emergency, and I just came in to order two quick coffees, and resign."

The Shift lead's face dropped, "You're joking…" as Natalie shook her head the lead's face turned angry. "No two week notice?" he asked blandly.

"My brother showed up unexpected, our father is hurt pretty bad and all my siblings and me are getting together to see him, I don't think I'll be back this way. For a while..." Her lead's face remained sour. "He drove two days nonstop to get to me."

"Ever heard of a plane?" he muttered.

"I am quitting, effective now. I had the rest of the week off any way; someone can cover my Sunday shift. I am here to claim my tips for the week, and leave a new address for my check."

He leaned over the counter, almost aggressive, the joking town sounded vicious and cutting, "I shouldn't even give you your tips with you leaving us high and dry like this. Maybe I should keep them..." Suddenly the door entrance bell jingled. "Let me take care of him, then I'll finish with you." he said nastily in a low voice so the customer couldn't hear.

Natalie leaned back. Not many people knew it, but she could get nasty right back. She felt a familiar presence put a hand on her shoulder and nudge her slightly behind him.

"Excuse you?" Luckily she wouldn't have to now.

Nat felt a somewhat sinister-like smile slowly spread across her face, "You haven't meet my brother Dean, have you?"

Her lead's mouth opened and closed like a fish, "This….wait, the sweet kid in college…?"

"Oh, no, that's my _little_ brother. This," she nodded back, "Is older bro."

"My stomach decided to bitch while you were inside, want to get some food?" he glanced to the lead whose face was still red in anger. "is there any trouble getting what you came in for Nattie?"

Nat mentally chuckled. His voice almost magically got deeper when he was pissed off. Especially when pissed and trying to remain calm.

Her lead looked really flustered for a moment. "My tips, please?" Natalie prompted.

The lead disappeared and returned with an envelope and sat it not-so-gently on the counter.

"Can I have the paper so I can sign?" _And make sure you're not stiffing…._

The man whipped his hands on his apron "I'll override it for you." .

"Do you know how much you're supposed to have?" Dean asked his sister quietly, at her nod, Dean looked up at the lead. "Would you count it please? And go ahead and give us the proper paperwork please?" His tone was very polite, and his posture relaxed. But Natalie knew her brother, he kept everything under a thin skin. He also only never gave more than one chance.

It was short twenty dollars.

While the rest of the money was gathered, Natalie wrote Bobby's address on the back of a Singer Salvage Yard business card. "This is my uncle's address. He'll call me when my check gets there. I already told him to expect it."

"It says Singer, not Winchester." He accused.

" Uncles also come from more than once side...and family doesn't end with blood." She quoted the very uncle the lead tried to degrade.

It was slow like pulling teeth to get everything settled. Dean was carrying a small box that held a few belongings that was kept at work for convenience sake.

"Anything else?" The lead asked.

"The two black coffees." Natalie reminded him. "Mind if we get food else where Dean?"

"Yeah. That's cool." He stopped Natalie from pulling out her wallet. "I'll get it."

He handed over a credit card.

"It's not your name…"

"My friend Jo-Linn, lent me the card when heard about our dad, I'm between jobs you see, and he said anything we needed and I can pay him back whenever, I have his number here if you'd like to talk to him?" Dean waved his cell phone. Probably had Josh, Jim and Caleb on speed dial. They always had hunters around that knew current aliases.

After a skeptical look, he ran the card. The register made its 'approved' noise, and spat out the receipt.

There was no, "Have a nice day," as they were handed their coffees and made their way out the door.

"Really?" Natalie laughed. "'Jo-Linn?" She whispered.

"Couldn't exactly put John Lennon on the card. People would get suspicious," he winked. Once in the truck he bended the card back and forth till it snapped in half. "It was nearly maxed out anyway."

Shaking her head, Natalie pulled out of the lot

"What kind of places you got to eat at down here?"

Pulling into the parking lot of one of the nicer dine-inn's the area Natalie climbed out of the truck. "Behave yourself. I have friends here, And I'm buying," Natalie offered.

Dean just smiled, downed the rest of his coffee and followed his sister inside.

"Be right with you!" The hostess half yelled as she ran all the way across the dinner to stop something from falling, then back to grab something, back to the other to deliver to a table, back across, and back to them. Dean was almost dizzy from watching her run back and forth. "Sorry," She said, out of breath, "we're a bit short staffed today." She tucked a stray strand of frizzy brown hair behind her ear. "Booth, or table?"

"You can pick." Dean winked.

Natalie let her head fall back. "I told you to behave."

The hostess laughed and led them to their table.

Dean turned the coffee mug over that sat waiting on the table. "This place seems nice." He nodded, looking around. "You and your roommate come here often?"

"We come here a lot. Bridge has an on again off again "relationship" with one of the cooks."

Dean raised his eyebrow a little. "You don't sound too pleased."

"I think he's an asshole with an ego problem. But he's nice to her. I think he knows if I found him being mean he'd be in some trouble. It helps when you're good friends with the sheriff."

Dean gave her a skeptical look, but turned to smile and thank the waitress as she poured some coffee in his waiting mug. "Ah, thank you, the brew of life."

The waitress laughed, "you're right about that. Have you found anything you like?"

"The Beast Combo caught my eye. You sold me at 'half a pound of bacon.'" His smile practically _twinkled_ in the light from the window as he eyed the waitress.

She scribbled it down in her note pad. "And for you Natalie?" She asked, with a small smile shaking her head.

"Just the small breakfast plate please, I'll probably sneak some of my brother stuff."

"Um...I'd like to see you try Little Bug." He rolled up a straw wrapper and threw it at her face. "Haha." He cackled when she flinched back and scowled.

"Real mature."

They settled back down into their booth faint smiles on their faces. Dean took another large gulp of his coffee. "Why are you friends with cops?"

"It helps when you have to...improvise and do things...less than legal. The sheriff here was kinda out of her broth with something Supernatural. I took care of it,

and she kept me from getting arrested."

"You leave us for two years and you nearly get arrested?"

Natalie shrugged and picked a couple sugars out of the caddy and flicked them back and forth. "You and Dad could benefit having a law official in your corner."

Dean snorted. "We're fine. No need to involve non-family in The Family Business."

"Saving people, and hunting things…" Natalie mumbled pouring her sugars in her coffee. "And credit fraud," she said in a low whisper.

Dean gave a small shrug and a smirk. "But seriously? Cops?"

"There's one literally right at the counter." Natalie smiled. "Don't worry, she's the one who's friendly." Natalie stood and tapped the woman on her shoulder. "Hey Donna."

"Hiya Nattie!" Donna turned, "I didn't see ya there!"

"Want to introduce you to my brother Dean."

"Oh." She said, her smile taking up half her face. "Okie-dokie."

Natalie laughed a little at her friends goofy ways. "Dean; sheriff Donna."

"Nice to meet you." Dean said, a faint polite smile on his face, but it was just a show of tolerance, not kindness.

 _Dean and cops._

Donna _,_ ever the sweetheart offered her hand to shake his, "nice to meet ya." She nodded enthusiastically. "You and your sister have the same eyes, that's so sweet."

Dean,warming up to Donna's sunny attitude a little, smiled. "Thanks."

"Care to join us for a little?" Natalie asked.

Donna seemed to think kinda hard for a moment, "no, I don't wanna intrude, but maybe just while they make my breakfast." She smiled.

"That'd be great. We're still waiting on ours."

When they were all settled in the booth, Natalie's smile suddenly dropped and her eyebrows pinched in an all to familiar way. Dean set down his coffee cup and his back straightened into high alert. Even two years apart, he knew that face. He was slightly alarmed when the sheriff didn't seem at all phased but sat quietly as if waiting for her to come back from daydreaming.

Natalie seemed to shudder as she came back to herself and blinked a few times shaking her head. "Sorry," she breathed a laugh, "nothing major." She ran her hands down her face a second, deep in thought.

Dean leaned back a little, still on alert. His sister didn't lie,(to them) but she did like to ease people's worries. By down playing something important. Her smile looked sad as she added another sugar to her coffee for something to do.

"You and Dough still doing okay?" She asked the officer.

Natalie didn't do small talk either.

Donna's sunny mood dimmed a bit. "Oh- yeah, you bettcha," She nodded quickly.

Natalie breathed a quiet snort, she didn't believe it for a second. "If a repeat of the Christmas party last year happens again, call me?" Natalie asked.

Donna frowned and nodded her shoulders slumping forward.

"Is someone hurting you?" Dean asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"No…not really…" she mumbled.

"Her husband is a bit... _insensitive_." Natalie said one thing, but Dean heard 'he's a bit of an asshole.'

He nodded, mouth pulling into the famous Winchesters' angry face. His eyes were calm however and he relaxed his face to give Donna a reassuring smile. "Well, if he does," Dean smirked, "I can help give him some lessons how how to treat a pretty lady like she deserves." He gave her a wink and Donna blushed scarlet.

 _By beating Doug into a pulp._ Natalie thought. Not that Doug didn't deserve it...but he was a cop too. Her brother didn't need to get arrested.

Donna's name was called from the Take-Away counter. "Well, that's me." She smiled.

"Oh, Donna, before you go, I need to tell you, I'm leaving town on some...Family Business, anything...odd happens, you can call me and I'll try and get her. If I can't I'll send someone that can."

"Oh." Donna looked sad, she tilted her head a little, her smile sweet, "When will you be back?"

"I'm leaving indefinitely.I already quit at the caffe and…" Natalie sniffed,biting her lip a second, "I need to be with family."

Donna not to cry. "Well let me give you one more hug before you go."

Natalie hugged her friend, and Donna, sniffling, tried not to cry. "Okie- I'm gonna have to go. Nice knowin yeah Nattie."

"You bettcha."

Donna gave her a sad smile before gathering her food and leaving.

"She's nice." Dean nodded.

"She is, and she deserves better than what she has, and what's gonna happen." Natalie slumped back into the booth.

"Your, uh, see-er thing?" Dean asked, Natalie nodded, "well? What did you see?"

"Doug was tolerable at first. He was wonderful when they started dating a year ago, they got married four months ago." She paused the story as they were brought their food. "Donna said she was worried because he wanted children right away. She likes her work, and knows she cant with a baby, Dough asked her to change careers but she won't have it."

Dean snorted, insulted for her, "the hell she should. I'm willing to bet she could kick anyone's ass."

"She did taze a guy once. It was beautiful. But anyway. She confided in me that she's willing to try with him for the kid."

"And?"

Natalie sighed, "In my vision, Donna thinks she's pregnant. It's like, three weeks from now, I caught a glimpse at the callender. She's going to lose it right after she finds out and Dough will blame her. And he's going to get worse."

Dean's death ground together. "Son of a bitch."

"He never hits her as far as I can see, but words hurt too." she took a nibble from her toast.

They ate the rest of their meal in silence and headed back to the apartment. The caffeine from all the coffee was wearing off, or hadn't done anything to begin with and they were feeling the sleepless night. "Sleep, then we'll go." Natalie sighed. "Damn I still gotta pack. And tell Bridgit." Natalie hugged and cursed again.

Dean just chuckled. "My sweet, innocent, little sister, I never imagined the day would come where you could sound like a sailor, and yet you never _drink_ a drop" A smirk played at his lips. He laughed harder when a certain gesture was held in his face. "Where'd you learn that?"

"From you, Asshole." She stalked off shaking her head, trying to hide her smile.

" Brat," was his comeback. A pillow flew from her room and he caught it. Next came the blanket. A teddy bear almost hit him in the face now that his hands were full. "Thanks."

"Couch is all yours Brother Mine."

Dean felt like he had just gotten settled when a mug off coffee was being pushed into his hands. He didn't even remember waking up, and was only catching half of what his sister was saying.

"...Bobby we're gonna be a bit later than planned, I still gotta pack and tell Bridge, I didn't hear my alarm."

"Kay," Dean mumbled and took a sip of his coffee. He sniffed around him, his nose wrinkled. Wondering how he didn't smell it before, he sniffed the couch. "Do you have a dog?"

"No, a friend of ours does, he brings him by sometime. Why?"

"Couch reeks," He stood up, bending his shoulders back, a cracking sounded down his spine.

"You dig up corpse, and you think dogs stink?"

"Yeah, coming from the one who can hardly smell."

" 'cuz I've been stuck in a car with you and Sam in the middle of the summer when you guys decide to take your shoes off. It's a blessing to all sisters with two brothers."

Dean grinned, "Our feet didn't smell that bad."

"Dad made you guys hang your feet out the window to air out."

Dean laughed, 'Okay-okay- you win."

When Bridgit came home for lunch she frowned when she saw multiple bags on the table. "Going on a trip?"

"Yeah...I was gonna come see you at work to say bye."

"Oh...why do i have the feeling you mean, 'farewell', and not, 'see you later?'"

"Because I don't know when I'll be back." Natalie cringed.

Dean lifted up her bags. "I'll go put these in your truck," he said excusing himself. He closed the door quietly behind him.

"Is everything okay?" Brigit frowned.

"No, our dad is missing, and could be in trouble… and once I find him...I'm going to stay and help them hunt."

"You're going back to hunting monsters and ghosts?" Brigit asked, eyebrows almost shooting into her hairline, "I thought you hated it."

"I hate dad's way of handling ghosts, and I'll be adamant this time about doing it my way...if he's okay. Remember how he showed up a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah but...you can always come back."

"Not this time...once you become a hunter...you never stop." Natalie gestured around to the salt filled tubing that went around the room, the salt rig by the door, the devils trap dream catcher over the door, small signals in the wood, a vial of holy water in the cabinet, and various weapons and guns stashed in special places. "And hunters have a nasty habit of tracking in the unnatural with them. I've put you in danger long enough."

"Natalie, please, I can take care of myself."

"I've only told you about half of what is out there. I've been trained my whole life to face those ugly sons of bitches. You've only known they've existed for two years and that's only because you thought I was losing it by talking to thin air."

"Just...why?'

Natalie walked to the bedroom, Bridgit tried to ignore how horribly barren Natalie's side was now, except for one more bag and her extra shot gun. She pulled out a tin from under the bed and handed it to her. "This has three months my share of rent. Hopefully you'll have a new roommate by then...I've been saving it incase something like this came up. It also has my alias, ways to find me if you need me, other hunters' numbers, alias and excerta. If you can't find any of us, contact Missouri Mosley. I promise she's legit."

Brigit, close to crying, shook her head, "You saw this coming didn't you?"

"Not exactly. I knew one day I'd have to leave and it would be quick." Natalie sat the little metal tin on the bed. Natalie opened her arms to hug her friend, and whispered. "There's materials under the loose floor board for hex bags along with a proper recipe. They will hide you from some monsters. If I call saying get out, put one together ASAP and get the hell out. And go to Blue Earth, Parish Church got it?"

Brigit nodded into her neck "you're scaring me."

"Good. Fear is good." Natalie stepped back. "I'm leaving this gun with you. Learn to use it." Natalie slung the last bag over her shoulder. "Stay safe." with that Natalie set her key on the previously shared dresser and left.

Dean noticed his sister rake her arm over her eyes to rid her of the tears. "You okay?"

"I will be." She took the walkie talkie that was offered. It saved them on minutes. Natalie sighed and tossed in her last bag. "Ready?"

Dean nodded and walked to the Impala.

"Hey, keep it below 80. I'd like to make it to Bobby's in one piece."

" Yeah-yeah, just keep up." He smirked. Nat shook her head and climbed into her truck.

Dean pulled out first and she was right on his tail, she looked back and saw Brigit watching from the window, she waved to her friend and followed her brother down the road and watched the first stationary home that she ever had disappear behind her.

There was a long drive ahead, although, it was nice having the Impala in her sight once again. She picked up the walkie-talkie. "Alabama, over." She smirked as a mini van with 'bamma plates whizzed by.

"You rotten cheating bitch, you're behind me, that aint fair." he called back.

Natalie laughed before calling, "wow, sore loser much?"

"Hey, I havent lost yet! You're on!"

"Washington." she giggled as another car past. She laughed harder when she saw him hit the steering wheel.


	6. Chapter 6

Supernatural

1-2-3 The Devil's After Me.

Pilot Part 6

~_~_~Sioux Falls ,South Dakota ~_~_~_~

October 28th

By the time they got to Bobby's, Natalie was boasting with a score of 10-5.

Natalie stretched as she slid out of the higher up seat. "Cheer up Dean. I'm sure you'll get Bobby's pity."

Bobby was already approaching them, looking grouchy as ever. "What ever he's whining about, you can bet your car he ain't gettin' any pity."

"Thanks Bobby, take her side why don'tcha."

Bobby's response was to whack him upside the head with his hat. "Get inside ya idjits, stews been sitting all lonesome on the stove for an hour."

The old Rottweiler ran up to them, pulling at his chain, barking excitedly. Dean inched past to head inside. "Hi Rumsfeld." Natalie scratched behind his ears. "You doing a good job guarding Bobby's yard?"

The dog gave a few slobbery licks and smiled up as she scratched his ear harder.

"All that damn dog does is sleep all day. Worthless mutt." There was love under Bobby's criticism.

"Sleeping on the job again Boy?" Nat laughed, she gave him one more pat and headed inside.

"Wash your hands." Dean said, wrinkling his nose, serving some strew into a bowl and setting it down in Bobby's typical spot, who promptly pushed it to Dean's.

"I already ate Kids. I'm just working on a beer." He took a swig, and moved to the fridge to rummage around for something. "Got a case of cream cola left, and a rootbeer."

"Don't have another 6-pack hiding in there?" Dean asked.

"Drank it all waiting on you to get your slow ass here."

Dean's face dropped, his eyes down cast, he looked like a kicked puppy. Granted, it wasn't as good as Sam's puppy eyes it was still close.

It didn't work the same magic though. "You got how much more driving to do?" Bobby asked.

"About 27 hours...so, less with that one driving" Natalie answered, nodding to and accepting her bowl from her brother and taking her seat.

The ate and laughed at Bobby's stories of all the idiotic calls he gets from hunters all over. Most of them from Ruffus.

"I swear, Walt and Roy are gonna get themselves killed." Bobby mumbled. "They have a whole new definition of going in half cocked."

"Dad never liked them much." Natalie said, picking up her dowl to take to the sink.

"Don't even think about doing them dishes Missy!"

"Bobby-"

"Don't ' _Bobby'_ me, sit." He didn't drop his glare till Natalie was back in her seat. He ignored her eye roll. "Your daddy don't like many people, and even more don't like him back, but he has good judgment on those two. The only thing they are really good at is tracking and making stuff explode."

"They just kinda suck at the killing the monster part," Dean said, leaning back in his chair.

"We probably should get going soon." Natalie mentioned. Bobby stood and grabbed a large gallon zip lock bag that had some paper sacks and tupperware containers of stew inside and handed them over to them. " Sandwiches, snacks and stew for the road. I got some fresh ice in the outside freezer to refill your cooler."

"Thanks Bobby, you're awesome." Dean smiled.

"Any time."

Dean stood from the table and drained the rest of his soda. "Guess I should load up, be the nice big brother and load my sisters bags in the car."

"If you would please." Natalie smiled.

Bobby chuckled at the slight banter. Dean's sarcasm turned into volunteering. "After that I'll bring ya out the ice. Need some fuel as well?"

"A top off would be grand."

"I'm gonna use the restroom before hitting the road." Natalie stood now from the table.

"It hasn't moved." Bobby smiled and walked out the kitchen door, Dean on his wheels giving a wink.

Nat waited a moment till she knew he was halfway to the shed before going to the sink to tackle the dishes. She laid them out to dry on the mat and smirked.

She rummaged in the junk drawer where there was always a sticky pad and peeled one off for a quick note.

 _Thanks for the stew Uncle Bobby._

 _-love Nat & Dean _

She stuck it on the clean dishes and joined her brother by the Impala. "I didn't touch your weapons trunk. Figured you'd want to do that."

"Thanks. Guess it won't all fit in the trunk?"

"You are over prepared." Dean mumbled.

"Whatever." Natalie opened the small back door and lifted up the box lid and pulling out the small step ladder and a bag. "Make yourself useful and hold this." Dean grumbled but held the bag any way. A few boxes and books, a boxed dagger set, extra lock pic boxes…

"Good Lord Nattie, how much stuff yeah got there?" Bobby asked, seeing the burlap stretch under all the added material in Dean's grip.

"Just the necessities."

"What's in the tins? My guess those aren't Christmas cookies…" Dean mused picking one out.

"Spell work stuff."

Dean dropped it like it had bit him. "Dad's gonna flip."

"I'm twenty five, I don't really care. It's to take care of ghosts and to summon ghost to where you want them."

"Why would you want to summon a ghost?"

Natalie smirked at her brother- the ladder put her closer to his height. "Makes it easier when what you're after comes to you."

After Nat filled her bag with as much as she could she could she closed everything back up, locked it and tossed the keys to Bobby.

"Drive safe Kiddos."

"We will." Natalie stepped forward to give him a hug.

"See ya later Darling." He said, giving a kiss on her head.

"Love you Bobby."

The old man smiled, "Love you too. Just tell Sam next time he decides to be a stranger over here, I'm gonna kick his ass."

The two siblings laughed. "Will do." They said in unison.

They both climbed into the Impala, two echoing _wacks_ sounded as the heavy doors were slammed shut. The Impala roared to life and settled down to a loud purr. She knew her mission. Reunite her family.

As Dean pulled onto the main road he blindly rummaged for a cassette.

"Want me to look?" Nat asked, taking back her role as designated radio operator With every step micromanaged. She gave the job over to Sam when he grew to cramped to stay in the back seat. Nat reached into the glove box for the small flashlight they stored there.

"Don Mclean. Side one." Dean said instructing. "No arguments."

"No. Never. I remember the rules. Dude, you gotta organize these better." She finally found it and replaced it with the old, worn AC/DC cassette and put it back in its case."

American Pie started softly through the speaker and Natalie leaned back into the seat. She didn't realize how homesick she was till now. She reached for the heater and smirked when she heard the rattle.

"Admit it." Dean grind, glancing at her but eyes returning to the road.

Sometimes she wondered if her brother could secretly read minds. She wasn't even that good- but it didn't take an expert to know. "I've missed this." She flicked open the door ashtray- straw wrappers and a few still sparkled. She flicked it closed. She annoyed the crap out of everyone my messing with it. _Flick, Clack, Flip, Clack._ She stopped with a small smile on her lips when Dean glared. _Just like old times._

They let the tape play out, switching sides when Sister Fatima finished. The melancholy melody of Crossroads was next.

Natalie yawned, "this is going to put me to sleep/"

"You need it." Dean grinned.

"So do you. I should stay up to keep you awake." Natalie was nearly interrupted with another yawn. "You planning on trading over at some point?"

"Hell no."

Natalie snorted, "Of course not." She turned around in the seat and felt for the old blanket that was kept in the back. It even smelled like home. She settled against the door to sleep. "Wake me

Natalie was deeply asleep when she heard her brother curse loudly, she jerked up when the car jerked off the side off the road and back to the asphalt. "What happened?" Nat asked, trying to bring her breathing back into a normal rhythm.\

"I'm fine." Dean said.

"You fell asleep didn't you?" Nat snarled. "Hotel. Next exit. No arguments."

"Three more hours."

"Now." Natalie glared at her brother not allowing any arguments. Dean sighed and flicked on the blinker for the next exit.

"Sam and Dad can wait one more day. We won't be doing them any good driving ourselves into a ditch"

The first motel with a vacancy sign was like the usual Winchester haunt. Dean pulled up to the small office block. He unfolded from the seat with a groan. "Be right back."

Natalie messily folded the blanket back and stuffed it back into its spot in the back floor boards.

Dean returned rattling the room keys. "Got the last room." he smirked.

They drove to the other end of the hotel lot so they could park outside their room.

They grabbed their clothing duffles and locked the weapon ones in the safely latched and double locked compartment.

Natalie didn't even look at the ugly wallpaper. She kicked off her shoes by the bed, looked under the quit to check if the

sheets were at least clean- it only took once crawling into a nasty bed- and crawled under the covers. She'd heard the familiar sound of salt pouring from a container for a few minutes then the lights flicked off and her brother simple fell on the bed next to hers.

"At least kick your shoes off." Natalie mumbled.

Two _clunks_ echoed in the dark. "Happy?'

"Ecstatic. Night." Nat blinked to check the clock. One am flickered in red letters in the dark. Natalie scowled and pulled the covers over head head and was asleep in seconds.

"Wakey wakey Nattie-bug." Dean said shaking her shoulder.

And arm snaked its way out from under the covers and blindly reached around to smack him. "Five more minutes," she garbled.

"I got you one of those fancy-ass coffees. It's getting cold."

He peeled away the covers and laughed. "That's a cool hair style. You work on that all night?"

Mumbling a half asleep sound she tried to get her voice to work better, "Shut up." Natalie mumbled, and sat up, rubbing at the spot of drool on her chin. _Eww._ Squinting at the light coming through the curtains, she rubbed her eyes. It was too early to focus on anything...let alone see straight. "What time is it?"

"A little past 10. We didn't set the alarm. I got us a later checkout time. But not much longer."

 _Or Not early...just need caffeine..._ Natalie pulled her feet out of the warm pocket of blankets and stood up. A warm paper cup was put in her hand. "How far did we get last night?"

"We only drove about six hours last night. Think We're in…" he peeked at the address on the hotel stationary. "Douglas Wyoming."

"I've stopped near here before then, we got about 20 more hours to go…you make good time" Natalie tried to get her hair to lie back in a somewhat normal manner. "Do you have the notes for dad's hunt or any idea what he was after?"

"He must have called sometime last night, he only left a message. I recorded it, so all we got is a voice mail and coordinates."

"Well, let's start with that, and get back on the road." Natalie grabbed her duffle and shoved her feet back into her shoes.

"When you said you were back in, you meant it didn't you?" Dean smiled, tossing the room keys on the table and locking the door.

"Nah, I just said it for shits and giggles." Natalie deadpanned, "Of course I meant it Dofus."

Dean cackled a little, "Man I've missed your sass," he laughed, tossing his bag into the back seat. Natalie tossed hers in behind his

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you missed me saving your ass from pre-teen little skinwalkers out for a cuddel."

"That was once! And I was fourteen. I'll never look at a cat the same way again." He shuddered.

They got back on the main road and Dean tried to set a new record for how fast the Impala could go once they reached open road.

Natalie found the spot on the map. "Okay, dad left us a lot to work with. He left us a good bit of space in the town to work knowing him..." Natalie used an old book as a writing bench drew a line threw the circle she had drawn, "Dad's hunt is along this stretch of highway called…" Natalie brought the map closer to her face, "Centennial… Looks like he's only given us coordinates along a 5 mile stretch. Whatever it is, that's its sweet spot."

Dean reached behind him and dug in a box. "Listen to his voicemail, " He handed the recorder to her.

Her dad's voice crackled out of the little box, a lot of interference made it hard to hear. Dean clicked the radio off a moment." Dean...something big is starting to happen...I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may... " His voice cracked out and was impossible to understand, "Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger. Get your sib-" And iit cut off.

Natalie's brow crinkled, "Did you hear the other voice?"

Dean frowned, "What other voice?" Natalie played it again. "I'm still not hearing it…"

Natalie pressed a few buttons and slowed it down. "Here!" She paused it, "Its starts right here, I just can't make out what she's saying." she pressed play again and watched Dean's face as he listened.

"I would say, you're crazy and hearing things, but that usually means -"

"Spirit..." Natalie nodded "Is there a way we can get rid of the EPV, and the crackling and hissing?"

"I think you're onto something." He said. "When we stop to fuel up, we'll look at it."

"Oh...and just wondering...when was the last time you checked your email?"

They stopped to fuel up in a town they didn't even know the name of and managed to sneak into the library before it closed for the night. Dean typed using his two pointer fingers. "Yahtzee." Dean grinded, "Got a message from dad…" he opened it up to see a file named "Family Photos."

It was anything but. Dean opened the file and articles from the Jericho Harald popped up.

"Awesome." Dean whispered, scrolling through the articles. "At least we're not going in blind." He muttered, clicking 'Print.'

After everything printed he double deleted the email from his inbox and the trash folder. Then started tapping away again and pulled a cord out of the box he had carried in along with the tape recorder.

"Okay Gold wave let's see what we've got here."

It took a few tries but they got most of the background noise out. Dean put on the headphones and listened. He stopped the recording. "Got it. I hear it now."

"Good. Lets go. The librarian is giving us the stink eye." she gathered up the papers from the printer and their recorder and walked quickly out the door and took off.

They weren't in the car long when Natalie was hit with another vision.

Dean nearly slammed on the breaks when he heard her hiss out a loud "Shit!"

"What, what is?"

"You know how I feel when I tell you what I _see_ about us. Set in stone, remember?"

"You can't just scare me half to death like that without an explanation."

Natalie scowled at him, her eyes glaring. "It won't make a difference if I do tell you. Every path will lead to the same road."

Dean scowled, "Will you tell me when whatever you saw has happened so I can quit worrying?"

"Sure." Natalie nodded. The radio hadn't been turned back on, so the silence was defining and awkward. Natalie licked her lips to rid them of the sudden dryness before she spoke, "Why...why do you think I have the stupid visions but can't do a thing about them?"

"I don't know…" Dean sighed. "It's helped dad out a time or two."

"Like me seeing hunts go sideways?"

"Exactly." Dean smiled. "Taught him to have a plan B." Dean gave his sister what he hoped was an encouraging smile. As he turned on the radio again.

They sped along the open road just listening to music and having small bursts of conversation.

"Did...did you have any other friends back in Stillwater?"

"Just Brigit, Matthew, and Sheriff Handscum and a few work buddies."

"I mean...uh, _close friends_." Dean winked.

"Nope. Matthew tried to start something, but...I saw him and Bridgit together...I had this vision a year ago...I just didn't realize why I wasn't in the picture. I let him down easy and said I wasn't the one for him. In the vision they looked happy." Natalie smiled herself. "You and Matt would get along well. He'd spend all day under a hood of a car if you let him. What have you been up too? You mentioned you were in New Orleans? When I talked to dad he said you were in the port areas or Georgia."

"Yeah, that was a quick in-and-out. The voodoo witch in New Orleans was tricky though. It was a shame, she became a witch to avenge her family from some catastrophe of something or other, then went to taking revenge on any poor bastard to ever wrong someone ever. It was a bit of a mess."

"Most of what we get into is." Natalie said with a faint smile. She ruffled through the glove department for the small flashlight and started looking through the file again of Missing Person articles they had retrieved at the library. "All males." Natalie mumbled, pulling out her own journal. And scribbled:

 _Jericho, CA_

 _M.O_

 _Males- slightly sporadic_

 _Type of spirit?_

"Okay...We have next to zilch." Natalie mumbled, "Do you know what would be helpful? Dad's journal."

Dean snorted. "Like he'd ever part with that. Lets just hope he left us some notes wherever he stopped or we'll just have to investigate all on our own."

The traffic grew lighter, and the sky grew darker. "Welcome to Nevada." Dean mumbled, and smirked. "You know...we could find a few dives here and get some cash…"

"Shouldn't we work on getting to Sam so we can work on finding Dad?"

"It's gonna be what…? Three, Four AM when we get there?"

"Sam'll be up."

Dean laughed, "I don't doubt the geek will still be up studying, but I think after driving a whole day, it will be heard to drive right on to Jericho.I say we money up, rest up, then get the kid."

Natalie sighed, "Maybe we can research some too…"

"Thatta girl.." Dean grinned. "You will help me hussle someone right?"

"Yes, sweet little girl from Small-town Middle No-where has never played poker in her life."

Dean laughed, "They'll never see it coming."

They found a roadhouse that had a few pool tables that had seen better days, and some spots for poker games. "I'll be driving after this," Natalie warned.

Dean sighed. "Okay."

They found a few people shuffling and Dean sauntered over, "Hey fellas, got room for one more? Showing my little sister the ropes." He grinned.

"Dean." She grumbled, laying on a thick, fake southern accent. "Don't embarrass me."

One guy, with thick, long blond hair grinned sweetly at her. "Where you from Sweetheart?" His blue eyes twinkled with a little too much booze but still seemed genuinely nice.

"All over." Natalie grinned, "But mostly around the southern states like the Carolinas."

"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked.

"Uh...I don't know…" Natalie said, "I'm not really fond of drinking…"

"Not even a cola?" the blond guy asked.

"Jeff, why don't you and the girly talk else where, and we can have this fresh guy play a while. You owe me 500 anyway."

"Okay." Jeff stood and offered his seat to Dean who took it and nodded, then winked at his sister again.

"Behave yourself kid."

"You too." Natalie said with a snarky smile.

Half way through the night, Natalie felt bad her brother was beating them all so continued to talk to Jeff who was starting to sober up just a little. "Where you headed, you're a long way from Carolina." He said, "Which one you from last?"

"South, and me and my brother are going to see my little brother in Cali."

Jeff nodded, and just smiled, "Any chance you'll pass back this way?"

Natalie shook her head, "I don't think so."

She jumped when the table flipped, "You freaking bastard!" One guy yelled.

"Uh, Oh." Jeff mumbled. "Better get your brother out of here sweetheart." He scribbled something down, and handed the napkin to Natalie, "Call me if you ever end up in Nevada again."

Her and Dean rushed out the door and slid into the Impala, the doors closed as one.

The engine gunned and they took off with the tires squealing. Dean laughed out loud. "Wow that was fun! I even snagged a few fifties off the ground from where he flipped it! Some of his friends lost more than they bargained for," he cackled.

"What got him so mad?" Natalie asked.

It had been a long time since she had driven the Impala, and Dean's knees were almost scrunched to his chin so Natalie could reach the petals, but his mood ws high despite the fact he was smooshed like an accordion in his own car. "Got a Royal Flush." His tongue poked out between his teeth a little as he grinned.

"Let me guess. Just got lucky?"

"Hella yeah." He started emptying his pockets pulling out the wads of cash he stuffed there. "We're loaded," he laughed, letting the money rain in the car.

"How much did you drink?"

Dean shrugged. "Just a couple'a shots. And a beer." He tried to stretch out. "Damn you're short…" he mumbled.

"You're freakishly tall. You can always ride in the back, maybe get some sleep for a few hours." Natalie said.

"I am not riding in the backseat of my own car. It's bad enough you're making me drive shotgun."

Natalie ignored her brother's grumbling and drove on. "Just count the money."

They stopped once more at the edge of Nevada, "One more bit to go, and we'll be in Palo Alto," Natalie said. She checked her watch. "Sam should be getting ready for class about now."

"Eh, we'll let the Geek be another day." Dean said, getting out of the car to stretch. "Wanna start some research?" He pulled his duffle out of the back and turned to look at the next motel to call home for the night. Honestly, it they all looked the same after a while.

"Yeah. Got a computer?"

Dean nodded and pulled a case out of the trunk. "Swiped this off a cafe table in Arkansas."

"Of course you did." Natalie shook her head, "Did you wipe it?"

"Clean, like new." Dean grinned.

Natalie set up at a small table with her small journal stuffed with notes. "We're pretty sure we're dealing with a spirit, so let's look at ones that go after only men."

Dean leaned over her shoulder and read the results. "You think we got a special one, not a run of the mill ghostie?"

"That or, they are just very particular. It's on a stretch of highway. Hit and run with a male driver?"

"What about that...ghost chick thing….the cheeto? The pregnant ghost lady?" Dean asked.

"She would only go after men if they were or had ever been injured in battle. She's supposed to be good, _in a way,_ because having a child is seen as a battle, and is honorable. She is known for picking up kids who wander to far from home. She's 'saving' them because their parents them them wander in the world alone…." Natalie's brow scrunched up… "What did you call her? It's a Cihuateteo, not a cheeto."

Dean made a face, "Well s _orry_ , I had only seen the name once, like, 10 years ago looking at dad's journal."

There was a lot of searching and nothing.

"We need Sam. he's the research wizard." Natalie mumbled, leaning back in her chair.

"Tomorrow night we'll get him. Lets get some sleep." Dean mumbled, laying out on top of one of the beds. "We always run on empty during hunts."

"I'll sleep in the car later." Natalie straightened back up in her chair. "I'm going to keep looking."

"You do that." Dean mumbled, already half asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Supernatural

1-2-3 The Devil's After Me.

Pilot Part 7

 _Palo Alto, California_

 _Stanford Apartments_

 _October 30th_

Sam sighed as he walked into his apartment. _That exam was a bitch._ He threw his backpack on the couch and slumped down into the large bean bag Jess had dragged in from a yard sale at the end of last semester. _Just a quick nap._ He had very nearly fallen asleep when he heard a voice call out from the kitchen door.

"Baby? You home?"

"Yeah!" He grunted, and tried to push himself to stand but fel back in the chair with a huff.

Jessica appeared around the corner and laughed, "You stuck?"

"A little," He grinned, and held out his hand, "Help me up?"

Jessica's lips pulled into a smile, "help you up? Or…"

"Please?" Sam asked, giving her his trademark pup-dog eyes.

Jessica huffed a sigh, like she had been asked to work a double shift back to back, but a smile was firmly in place. "I'm warning you Winchester, if you try anything…' She threatened and took his hand.

"You'll what?" He asked. She squeaked a little as she was pulled into his lap. "Kiss me?" He asked, with a fully dimpled smile.

"Only because you're cute." She said, giving him a small peck on his lips.

"Wanna take a nap?" Sam asked, pulling her closer to his chest.

"We gotta get ready for the party. We promised."

Sam smirked, "You mean, you promised for us. Come on~ for me."

Jessica lightly slapped his chest, "Don't get snarky with me." she smiled.

"Just a little one?"

Jessica opened her mouth to say 'no,' again but dropped her stance when she saw his pouting face again. "You're lucky I love you." After another kiss she patted his chest once and stood up.

Sam clumsily rolled out of the bean bag and followed his girlfriend to their shared kicked off his shoes at the door and chucked his denim jacket onto a dresser and collapsed happily on the bed. "Bagwell's exams are the worst." He mumbled then yawned.

Jessica changed into some soft shorts and laid her jeans in a chair. "You'll ase it like always. Nothing to worry about." She flopped onto the bed next to him.

Sam didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her and pull her to his chest. He smiled into her hair. "Could stay like this forever."

"Thirty minutes. And we're getting ready." Jess said, half turning in his arms and kissed his nose. "Not even your puppy eyes can get you out of this party."

Sam sighed, half asleep. "Worth a shot."

True to her word he felt a slap across his shoulder thirty minutes later. "Get up Sam."

"Five more minutes."

"Uh, no." Jessica laughed. "You asked twice already."

Sam mumbled something Jessica couldn't quite make out.

"We could have some fun while I get ready." Jessica taunted.

Sam's eyes snapped open to see his girlfriend in just a towel and wet hair around her shoulders.

Dean had the Impala parked inconspicuously around a corner. He sat up straighter when he saw his little brother walking down the road with a girl's hand in his. "Aww, Sammy's got himself a girlfriend." He laughed, then brow wrinkled in confusion. "Whos the zombie dude?"

"One of his classmates. Luis. He acts like a moron, but is wicked smart." Natalie informed. "Freshman year, Sam and him got in a bar fight, five against two. "

"Wait, which side was this kid on?"

"He got pushed into the fray. These guys had ganged up on Sam and he backed him up."

"Son of a bitch." Dean growled.

"They got their faces beaten bloody. One of Sam's friends, Brady, took him back to his block where one of his nursing major friends was to help patch up their faces." Natalie had a soft smile on her face, "He and Jessica started dating a month later."

"They look good." Dean smiled.

"They are. She's super sweet."

Dean looked sad for a moment. "Is it just me, or do they look like mom and dad?"

Natalie leaned around to see them steal a quick kiss on a street corner before ducking inside a bar.

They took turns watching and sleeping.

Dean jumped when his sister grabbed his shoulder to wake him. The sky was dark, but the street was lit with lights lining the sidewalk. "What time is it?"

"Past 10. I nodded off."

Dean sighed, and turned the car back on. "Lets go get our Sammy." He smiled, sleep still in his eyes. He drove to the back of his building.

"You just gonna knock on his door? Like you did me?" Natalie laughed.

"No." Dean said, and smirked, "I'm gonna use the window."

"I'm gonna wait here, just don't cry to me when he knocks your block off."

Dean just grinned wider as he tiptoed up the metal stairs.

It wasn't long till the sound of fighting reached her ears, and moments later a light flicked on. "Better go check out the damage." Natalie mumbled, then climbed into the window like her brother did.

"Dad's on a _hunting trip_. And he hasn't been home in a few days."

"Jess' excuse us. We have to go outside," Came Sam's stoic response, his eyes widened a little when his eyes caught sight of Natalie. "Nat?"

"Hey kiddo. Dean likes in enter in style doesn't he?"

Sam's jaw was still hung open. "I don't believe this." He mumbled, shaking his head.

"I wanted to call…" Natalie smiled shyly, "But Dean wanted it to be a surprise." Sam glared at his two siblings. "Surprise." Natalie gave half hearted jazzhands.

Sam huffed, shaking his head and grabbed a hoodie, and ducked into the bedroom, yanking on jeans over his shorts. "Sorry Jess, I'll only be a few." He kissed her head and joined his brother and sister to the door. "Lets try and have a little more class for the exit shall we?" all the siblings headed outside together.

Sam lead them to the main stone stair well that lead to the parking garage. "What the hell guys?" Sam demanded as they descended the stairs, remembering to keep his voice down as they passed other apartments.

"Thought you would like to help." Dean shrugged.

Sam huffed, and stomped down a few stairs to keep up with Dean's swift stride. "I mean, come on. You can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you."

Natalie smiled a little. "Blame me for the middle of the night thing. We were supposed to come by after your party, but I fell asleep."

"You're just as bad as he is." Sam grumbled.

Dean sighed, "You're not hearing me Sammy. Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him. He needs all of us."

"Sam, I haven't seen him since the beginning of October when he took this job. I think somethings up."

Sam's jaw clenched, not convinced. It didn't help either both his siblings nagging in his ear at once again. "You both remember the poltergeist in Amherst right? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton?" He prompted. "He was missing then, too." Sam's voice rose in volume a little. "He's always missing and he's always fine."

Dean stopped, and turned to face Sam on the stairs and stood a little taller. "Not for this long. Now are gonna come with us or not?"

Natalie stood a landing below looking up at both her brothers, noticing Sam's stuborn set to his shoulders.

Sam looked between his siblings for a moment. "I'm not." He said simply.

"Why not?" Dean asked, trying to hold his ground.

Sam's mouth pinched into a tight line. "Because," he sighed, "I swore I was done hunting. For good."

Dean gave a dry laugh and started to fiddle with the keys. "Come on, It wasn't easy, but it wasn't _that_ bad." Dean turned to meet Natalie at the bottom.

Sam glared, and skipped the remaining steps in one long stride. "Yeah? When I told dad I was afraid of the thing in my closet he gave me a .45." They gathered in a tight corridor with an iron gate, they stood almost nose to nose.

"Well, what was he supposed to do?" Dean asked, not expecting an answer. _He forgot how stubborn Sammy really is._

Sam frowned, his town desperate for his older brother to understand. "I was nine years old! He was supposed to say, 'don't be afraid of the dark."

Dean gave a skeptical huff and Natalie shook her head. "Don't be afraid of the dark?' Are you freaking kidding me?" Dean asked. "Of course you should be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there."

"I know what night you're talking about Sam, I think you're forgetting some important details." Natalie said, trying to calm her brothers' argument. "Dad wanted you prepared."

"Yeah, I know, but still." Sam continued. "Why are _you,_ of all people defending the guy?" _Like a dog with a bone…_ he wasn't done yet. "The way we all grew up after mom was killed, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her. But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find."

Dean squared his shoulders. "We save a lot of people doing it too."

There was a long stretch of silence.

Sam's tone had shifted to desperate. "You think mom would have wanted this for us?"

Dean rolled his eyes and pushed passed his brother and slammed open the iron gate.

"He's never going to understand is he?" Sam asked his sister before storming after his brother, not giving Natalie a chance to answer.

Dean was already at the Impala.

" The weapon training," Sam prompts, "and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors."

Dean leaned against the car and titled his chin up to his brother. "So...what are you gonna do? You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?"

"Dean…" Natalie warned, "I wasn't hunting really till you showed up. Cut the kid some slack."

"You were doing more than me." Sam scoffed. "I don't want normal," Sam scowled. _Nothing will ever be normal. I'm not normal._ "I want safe."

Dean's lip twitched. "So that's why you ran away," he looked away.

"Dude!" Natalie growled, "Seriously?"

Sam butted in her defence of him. "I was just going to college. It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing."

"I ran too. He said the same exact thing to me, Dean. You were there. I thought you understood."

Sam turned to her briefly. "Dad told you to stay gone too?" his shoulders slumped at her nod.

" _Go!" John yelled in his rage, aided in part by the few-too many shots of whiskey, and a hunt gone south. "Just run out on this family like you're good for nothing brother! Don't you come back either!"_

 _Despite having a few shots herself to be able to sit through getting the stitches on her forehead, she pushed past Dean. "Don't worry, I'll be gone before dawn you-"_

 _Dean hauled her outside kicking and yelling a variety of obscene words._

 _True to her word she was gone before John passed out from his bottle of Jack._

"Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble right now. " Dean cut them all a sharp stare, "If he's not dead already. I can feel it."

Natalie rubbed her arms as chills ran up her exposed skin, all of them we're silent. "He wasn't in my vision. If that's what you're wondering Dean."

Dean turned to Sam. "We can't do this alone."

"Yes you can," Sam said, looking at his shoes.

Dean looked down too, trying to hide his expression when Sam did look up. "I don't want to."

"I think it would be good if we were all there to find dad. Get some things straightened out." Natalie smiled. "I know it would make me feel better."

Sam finally looks up. He'd never been able to deny his siblings anything. "What was he hunting?" he asked.

Like Dean knew Sam would agree all-along he popped open the trunk then the hidden compartment, propping it open with a sawn' off shotgun.

"Where did you put the file Nat?"

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Where we've always put it."

"And where the hell is that?" he asked, digging through the clutter.

"So…" Sam began. "When Dad left, why didn't you go with him?"

"I had a series of my own gigs. The, uh, this last one was a voodoo thing down in New Orleans."

Sam raised a questioning brow. "Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?"

Natalie couldn't help but snort.

Dean looked offended. "I'm twenty-six dude."

Nat gave Sam a sly smile, promising some funny details later. They both knew Dean's age, and skill set had nothing to do with him being alone. John Winchester was just a controlling ass. _Like always._

"Found it." Dean said, finding the file that had slid to the back. Dean pulled out the first few papers they had looked over. "All right, here we go. SO dad was checking out this two lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy," Dean handed the top page to Sam for him to look at. "They found his car, but he vanished. Completely MIA."

Sam read the article quickly then looked up, the guy had been missing since September. "Maybe he was kidnapped."

Dean laid down another page. Yeah? Well, here's another one in April." Dean continued to leaf through them and laid them all out for sam to see. "One in December of 'oh-four,' year ''oh-three,' 'ninety-eight, 'ninety-two, ten of them over the past twenty years." He takes the latest article back from Sam and stuffed them all back in the folder. "All men, and of the coordinates dad gave us are right, the same five mile stretch of road." Dean set the file back down in the clutter of weapons, "It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was three weeks ago. Neither of us have heard from him since, which is bad enough." Dean grabbed the tape recorder. "Then I get this voicemail yesterday while we were driving over here." Dean pressed play and let Sam hold it close to his ear to try and make out the staticy, broken message their dad left them.

"Dean...something big is starting to happen...I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may... Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger. Get your sib-" Sam frowned as the message gave out into open static.

Dean pressed stop and stared at his brother to gage his reaction.

"You know there's EVP on that?" Sam asked.

Dean's classic smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth, "Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?" The saying fell flat as only one of them ever got to learn to ride a bike. And it wasnt Sam. Dean sighed, and continued, "All right, we did some work on it in Utah at some library, 'cuz our sister, can hear past the EVP to the other bit of the message. I slowed it down, ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss and this is what we got."

Dean hit a few buttons to fast forward and pressed play.

A woman's voice whispered, "I can never go home…."

Dean pressed stop again, trying to ignore the chills crawling up his back despite his many layers of clothing.

Sam's eyebrows scrunched up in thought, "...never go home…"

Dean dropped the recorder, folded the shotgun back in place, and shut the secret arsonal and the trunk in one slam. He leaned back against the car, half sitting on the fender. "YOu know, in almost two year i've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing."

Sam looks away for a moment, then back to his brother, trying to compose the emotion he kept at bay. Apples never fall far… If only Dean knew the reft wasn't because he didn't call. "All right. I'll go. I'll help you find him."

Dean nodded, "Awesome."

"But," Sam continued, "I have to get back first thing Monday. Just wait here." Sam had already gotten a few paces away when Dean spoke up.

"Whats first thing Monday?"

Sam turned back, is shoulders going back and up a little, trying to show confidence in stance, he lacked it in voice. "I have this...I have an interview."

Dean made a face, "What, a job interview? Skip it," he said simply.

Sam scowled, "Its a Law School interview," he said, like it explained everything, and to Sam, it did, "and it's my whole future on a plate."

"Law school?" Dean asked then smikred. _Always knew you were too wicked smart._

Sam didn't break his stare, "We got a deal or not?"

Dean didn't say anything, and Natalie wasn't sure what to do or say so she shrugged. Dean was the one who drove so…

Sam just shook his head and turned to go inside, "I'll be right back...just, if you need anything, use the door. Please."

Sam snuck his way past Jessica who was watching TV waiting for him to come back in. He knew she would be in the room in a second when she heard him russling about. He quickly tucked away a few weapons, he had just managed to tuck on of his more sinister looking knives in his bag when she stepped in.

"You little sneak, I didn't hear you come in...Wait, you're taking off?" She asked, noticing the small duffel bag.

Sam looked up and gave a small nod, swallowing the nervous feeling rising in his throat.

"Is this about your dad? Is he alright?"

Sam gave a light smile to reassure her, but damn, he hated lying to her. "Yeah, you know, just a little family drama." At least he could make it a half truth. He walked to the dresser where he stored most of his te-shirts. He pulled the cord on the lamp and ruffled through his more tattered shirts. He didn't want to ruin his good ones with who know what- dad had gotten into.

"Your brother said he was on some kind of hunting trip?" Jess asked, gentled running her finger along the straps of his bag as she sat on the bed.

Sam joined her and stuffed the shirts in, making sure they hid the knife. "Oh _yeah_ ," Sam said, a sarcastic edge in his voice. "He's just deer hunting up at the cabin. ALthough, I doubt he's getting much done, he probably has Jim, Jack and Jose along with him. I'm just going to bring him back.

Jess looked concerned, "What about the interview?"

Sam zipped up the duffle and stood up, an easy smile on his face, "I'll make the interview. This is only for a couple of days." Sam walked around the bed to go get his toothbrush from the bathroom.

Jessica was following, hot on his heels, "Sam. I mean, please." she reached for his hand to make him stop, he turned facing her. "Just stop for a second. You sure you're okay?"

Sam laughed a little, and smiled, "I'm fine."

Jess made a small face, unsure still, "It's just...you won't even talk about your family, besides Natalie, and now you're taking off in the middle of the night to spend a weekend with them? And with Monday coming up, which is kind of a huge deal."

Sam just smiled at her concern, "Hey, everything's going to be okay. I _will_ be back in time. I promise. He gave a left a kiss on her cheek and left the room.

Jess stood on her tiptoes to lean around the corner. "At least tell me where you're going...Sam?"


	8. Chapter 8

Jericho California

Centennial Highway

The old blue rust bucket sped along the dark highway. Troy, relaxed into his seat. His mind numbed to the familiar path home, and the radio was blaring at top volume. Surprisingly, he heard his cell phone ring over the music. He turned it down a few notches and answered."Hello?- Hey Amy."

"Hey, come ever, I'm lonely." She sounded a bit drunk.

"Amy," He breathed a small humorless laugh. "I can't come over tonight."

"Why not?" she wined.

"Because I've got work in the morning. Thats why."

"Miss it. Sleep in," she begged.

He sighed again, aggravated this time, " I miss it and my dad's gonna have my ass." A women, dressed all in white caught his attention. _What the hell?_ He didn't notice his radio going staticy for a moment, his eyes were to busy staring at the women dancing in the moonlight. "Hey, ah, Amy, let me call you back?" he barely heard her mutter 'fine.' Before he flipped his phone shut.

Now noticing his radio acting weird, he tried to turn it off, but nothing happened. Shrugging his shoulders, he pulled up next to shoulder and rolled down the window, the woman looked up through her hair at him as he leaned over the passenger seat, "Car trouble or something?"

She lifted her chin higher, "take me home?" She asked her voice sounded hallow, even sad. D _id she just get ditched here?_ Troy wondered.

Troy didn't hesitate to open the door, "Sure, get in," he leaned over further and opened the door for her. Troy's eyes widened a little when he noticed the state of her dress, all torn, dirty and…. _where's her shoes?_ "So...uhh...where do you live?" he asked, his eyes tried to look away from her beauty.

"At the end of Breckenridge road." She answered, leaning back in the seat.

Troy's eyes slid back over to the woman, taking note of the very low cut dress, showing off an impressive amount of cleavage. He cleared his throat to speak a little clearer as his heart raced. "You coming from a Halloween party or something?" He laughed nervously and made himself look away again. He chanced glancing back at her again, but tried to look at her face this time. Guiltlessly, his eyes glanced down a few times, "You know, a girl like you really shouldn't be alone out here."

He had a hard time deciphering the first look she cast his way, but her eyes took on a seductive light as she slowly pulled her skirt over her thigh. "I'm with you," she breathed.

Troy looked away again, trying to shake away the thoughts invading his mind. _Think of Amy...think of..._ his mental mantra interrupted when she pulled his chin toward him to look her in the eyes again.

Then her boobs.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

He nodded, his eyes glued to where he tried not to look. "Uh...huh…"

She pouted a little, her plumb bottem lip poking out a little, "Will you come home with me?"

Thoughts of Amy was pushed from his mind. He was about to get lucky. "Um. Hell yeah." His tires burned tread marks on the shoulder as he took off back onto the main road.

He drove carefully up the dark gravel path, his passenger hadn't said anything else the rest of the way, but she hadn't pulled her dress back down either. Troy didn't mind. ' _What the hell?'_ he wondered when he reached the end of the driveway.

Troy stared in disbelief at the abandoned, run down _shack._ He turned to face his passenger, only to see her staring at it all, like she had just lost everything that moment. The place clearly hadn't been touched in decades. "Come on." Troy said, annoyance coloring his tone. "You don't live here."

"I can never go home." She whispered.

 _Okay, Haha. ..I hate Halloween…_ "What are you talking about?" _She's kidding right?_ "Nobody even lives here. Where do you live?" He turned to stare out at the desert like yard, the only greenery was knee high weeds. When he turned back, the girl was gone. He jumped at the nothingness left behind, then checked the back seat just to be sure. He shivered at the sudden cold he realized that had filled the cab. He stepped out into the warmer air and shivered, nervous, he stepped forward, trying to sound braver than he felt, "That's good. Jokes over, okay? You want me to leave?" There was no sign of life anywhere, that he could see as he nervously looked around. Troy took a tentative step toward the house.

"Hello?..." he edged forward. "Hello?" he called again, peering through a hole in the screen door. There was a faded picture of a woman and two children, if Troy didn't know any better- he'd guess it was the woman.

Suddenly, a bird screeched and launched itself out of the dark, flapping its wings in Troy's face. He screamed, falling over, and quickly crab crawled off the porch till he gained his feet. He tripped over his feet that were moving to fast for the rest of his body to keep up, catching himself on the door handle of his car, he wrenched it open and fell in. The car barely had time to start before he peeled out of the dusty drive, leaving a large cloud of dirt in his wake. _So much for getting lucky…_ he thought as he pushed harder on the petal to get the hell out of that creepy ass yard. He was able to breath once more when the road changed back to asphalt. Nervous, he glanced into the mirror, making sure no one was behind him- he didn't have time to sigh in relief at the nothingness till the women appeared in the rear-view. Troy yelled in surprise once more, and accidentally missed his turn, driving through the roadblock that lead to the bridge. He threw on the brakes when suddenly she was on top of him sticking her clawed fingers through his chest. Her face flickered from beautiful to a decaying, horrifying shadow of a women. The last thing Troy saw before the darkness and cold took him was his own blood splattering on the front window.

The Impala was parked in front of a gas pump, now sitting happily with a full tank of gas, three of the four doors open to air out the stale air of housing three occupants all night. Ramblin' Man played on the radio louder than Sam would like- but the rules of childhood rolled over into adulthood- touch the radio and he won't have a hand later.

Natalie paced back to where Sam sat in the front seat, stretching his legs out the open door. "Don't you want to walk around a bit? We still got another hour driving left. Haven't had to sleep in a car in a while. I know you gotta be stiff too."

"I'm fine." Sam said, looking through Dean's box of tapes.

Dean came out moments later arms full of soda and various packages of junk food. "Hey, you want breakfast?"

Natalie held up her hand, "I'm game." Dean tossed her a Snickers and a Coke. "Haha, breakfast of champions," she smiled, and opened the coke first.

Dean offered his haul to Sam, "Sam? You want anything?"

Sam looked around at Dean though the open window, seeing candy bars, chips and jerky, trying not to make a face he shook his head. "No thanks." he said and went back to ruffling through the same terrible music he grew up with as a kid. Dean dumped the haul into the large cooler they kept lodged in the back floor boards. "How did you pay for all that stuff?" then in a quieter voice asked, "You and dad still running credit card scams?"

"Yeah well," Dean said, taking the nozzle out of the car and placing it back on the pump, "huntting ain't exactly a pro ball career, you know that." Dean leaned on the trunk for a moment, "Besides, all we do is apply, its not our fault they send us the cards."

Natalie snorted, "Yeah," she laughed, "And care to tell Sam the names you put on the cards?"

Sam rolled his eyes, "can't wait,this should be good," he swung his legs in and closed the door, Dean climbed in behind the wheel, and Nat in the back.

Dean cleared his throat, "Burt Aframian, and his son Hector, scored two cards out of the deal."

"The name on the card he used when he picked me up had Joe Lenn" on it."

Sam nodded, "sounds about right." He picked up another tape, "I swear man, you've gotta update your cassette tape collection," Sam brushed his hair out of his eyes as he looked down to dig deeper into the old box.

Dean started the car, and took out the tape that had been playing, "Why?"

Sam rolled his eyes and gave his classic I'm-done-with-your-shit- expression and smirked, "Well, for one, they're cassette tapes. And two…" Sam pulled out a hand full, "Black Sabbath?" he read from the dulled sharpie note card taped to the first one, "Motorhead? Metallica?" he said, laughing a little.

Dean snatched the Metallica tape out of Sam's hand. It was the only one that still had its original label on the case.

"It's the greatest hits of mullet rock," Sam deadpanned.

Dean put the tape in and tossed its case back in the box, "Well, house rules, Sammy: Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole."

Natalie rolled her eyes, "It wouldn't kill you to have bit more variety."

"You too. Shut it." Dean said, turning on the radio- Back in Black started to blast through the speakers.

"At least this one isn't to bad Sammy." Dean smirked,

"You know, 'Sammy,' is a chubby twelve-year-old. Its Sam, okay?"

Dean just grinned and turned the radio up even further, "Sorry, I can't hear you, the music's too loud." Sam rolled his eyes, Natalie laughed a bit, and joined Dean in singing along as they pulled away from the gas station back onto the open road.

They passed a sign that informed them that Jericho was only a mer seven miles away.

For the past hour, Sam had been on the phone, the music turned down to the lowest its allowed to go. "He would be about 6'1-6'2, dark curly hair, early 50's?" There was a pause as someone checked their data for the description. "You sure? No John Doe's?" Sam visibly sighed a little, his shoulders relai. "Okay, thank you bye." He flipped the phone shut. "All right. So, there's no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue, so that's something I guess."

"He's just keeping his head low, I'm sure he's fine." Natalie said, scooting forward in the seat to stick her head between her brothers. "He _could_ call, but...there's always a reason why he can't."

Sam gave a sarcastic snort, "a lame excuse you mean?"

Dean just gave a silent glare at Sam's remark,then took notice of two police guards and their cars gathered on the bridge that was a little ways ahead of them. "Check it out." He said, nodding to the crime scene, slowing down, once they got close enough, Dean pulled over and turned the car off. He reached across Sam and ruffled in the glove department and pulled out an old wooden cigar box and ruffled through it. He pulled out three badges, and handed one to Sam, one to Nat and tucked the other in his pocket, gave a large grin and said, "Let's go."

Sam stared after him with his mouth hanging open. Nat moved to get out next. "Show time Sammy."

"It's Sam…" he grumbled at the closed door and got out as well.

On the bridge, the deputy leaned over to yell at the men walking through the river in wetsuits, "You guys find anything?" he yelled.

"No! Nothing!" they yelled back.

The deputy peered back in the car through the clean windshield.

The other officer shook his head at the sight, "No sign of struggle, no footprints. _Spotless._ It's almost too clean."

The three siblings walked onto the crime scene like they belonged there. Their presence wasn't noticed just yet.

The deputy turned to the other officer again, "So this kid, Troy, he's dating your daughter, isn't he?"

"Yeah," he answered, shaking his head looking down at the clean car, his brow furrowed like he was trying to find a missing puzzle piece.

"How's Amy doing?"

"She's putting up missing posters downtown."

Dean chose now to speak up, half startling the officers, "You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?"

The deputy straightened up, his face hard, "And who are you?"

All three flashed their badge, "Federal Marshals." he put it back in his jacket.

He eyed Sam and Natalie in particular, "You three are a bit young for Federal Marshals…aren't you?"

Natalie laughed a little, "How kind of you. But we were top of our class, and took most of the training while finishing up highschool, and got a head start." For someone who hated lying, she was awfully good at it.

Dean was still grinning a little, "This one was first on our 'youngster squad" he slapped Sam on the back. Then turned serious and walked over to the car,"You did have another one just like this, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There've been others before that."

"You knew the victim?' Sam asked.

The deputy nodded, "Town like this, everybody knows everybody."

Dean continued his circle around the car, memorizing every inch. He didn't smell any sulfur when he stuck his head in the open door- ruled out demons. "Any connection between the victims, besides that they're all men?"

"No, not so far as we can tell."

"Any theories?" Natalie asked, joining Dean in looking at the car.

The deputy shrugged, looking a little lost, "Honestly, we don't know. Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?" he scratched his head. "The world's crazy, you know? Could be anything…"

 _If only he knew..._ Natalie thought, looking over the water. Nothing was showing its self just yet.

Dean sauntered back to the edge of the bridge to stand next to Sam, Natalie circled over to stand next to her older brother, they were obviously getting nowhere- time to skip out before they got suspicious, "Well," Dean said, "that is exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys."

Sam promptly stomped hard on Dean's foot, and with a polite tilt of his head said "thank you for your time." Sam started to walk away, "Gentlemen," he said as a goodbye, and lead the way off the bridge. Dean followed close on his heels, and when the officers were no longer looking, smacked Sam across the back of the head.

"Ow!" he hissed, "What was that for!"

"Why'd you have to step on my foot?" Dean growled.

"Why do you have to talk to police like that?" Sam nagged.

"Boys!" Natalie hissed, "Not here!"

Dean power walked till he was standing in front of his siblings, making them stop, "Come on, they don't really know what's going on here. We're all alone on this. I mean, if we're going to find dad, we've got to get to the bottom of this ourselves."

"We should go, incoming," Nat hissed.

They looked up when the voice of the Sheriff asked, "Can I help you?"

Dean turned around and squared his shoulders, almost everything from his posture to his face screamed military. "No sir, we were just leaving." The FBI agents nodded to them as they past, Dean nodded back. "Agent Mulder, Agent Scully," he smirked.

They made their exit, the Sheriff watching them go a frown lining his face.


End file.
